Two important pieces of news around cycling in the Prestwich area

Prestwich to Heaton Park Cycle Route
Work is starting this month to improve cycling facilities in Prestwich with an improved route for cycling between Heaton Park and Prestwich Metrolink.

The work is part of the Government Funded Cycle City Ambition Grant which has been given to Greater Manchester with £97,500 being allocated for this piece of work in Prestwich.

The route goes from the Heaton Park gates, up Whittaker Lane, the up Rectory Lane towards the Longfield and Prestwich Metrolink. As well as new cycle lanes, there is specific work to make junctions safer for cyclists – at the Rectory Lane/St Mary’s Road junction, and at the Rector Lane/Heywood Road roundabout. To complete the package, it is expected that the junction of Bury Old Road and Whittaker Lane will be signalised to make it easier for pedestrians and cyclists to cross the A665. This work is expected to start in April and be completed by August.

At Prestwich Metrolink itself there will be work to provide a safer route under the Metrolink for cyclists by using the 2nd (Poppythorn Lane), linking through behind the car-park to the existing cycle facilities at the station. A separate project which is also funded by Government is to make Prestwich Metrolink is to become one of the first ‘cycle and ride’ stations on the Metrolink network – more information on this when we have it.

Hopefully this route will be a good addition to facilities in Prestwich, and a start of a bigger network of safer routes across the town.

Prestwich – Manchester Cycleway

It now seems that the proposed ‘Prestwich – Manchester’ cycle route will NOT be going ahead following a consultation. The proposal was a route that went through Heaton Park, then through the parts of Blakeley and Collyhurst, finishing near the Metrolink depot on Queens Road. Many people, including a great number of cyclists in the Prestwich area were very clear to the Council that this was not the most appropriate route for various reasons (a very indirect route, a lot of steep inclines, and the fact that Heaton Park itself is closed as soon as it goes dark).

In our view it is better to spend this Government Money on something that we want and that people will use, rather than a route that is not widely supported.

What is very important now is that some of this Government money IS spent on improving cycling links north from Manchester City Centre towards Prestwich. Manchester now has some great cycle routes heading south, east and west – so it is vital that the north of the city benefits too! Perhaps the most logical and direct route, were it to be made safer, would be the Bury Old Route – but people would need to be consulted on this.

My Lib Dem colleague Cllr Tim Pickstone has already written to Manchester City Council (who have this as their project) asking what will be happening with the money previously allocated to the Prestwich-Manchester route, and what plans there can be for a new route in the north of the city towards Prestwich.

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