Great to be down at the Broadway/Long Lane junction this week with representatives from National Highways, Costco Oldham, JW Lees Brewery, and local Councillor Graham Shuttleworth and Kyle Phythian to bring all sides together and see the issues for ourselves.
Like most people locally, I think Costco has been a real boost for Chadderton. It saves members a trip to Trafford and its popularity speaks for itself – especially around paydays and bank holidays.
But that success comes with a problem with the road layout just not up to the job of supporting the flow and volume. At peak times, queues back up, block junctions and spill onto an already congested Semple Way and Broadgate. The petrol station has added to demand, with drivers queuing to fill up.
To make things more complicated, Broadway isn’t a council road. It’s part of the national highway network, managed by National Highways, which means fixing problems isn’t as simple as Oldham Council stepping in.
The good news is that there is a plan coming. As pointed out last year when we raised concerns, National Highways are developing a scheme to improve capacity and safety at Junction 21 of the M60 and the A663 Broadway. That should make a real difference – reducing congestion, improving safety, and making it easier to get in and out of Costco and Long Lane. It also includes better provision for walking and cycling.
Crucially, the proposals would allow traffic lights to be re-timed, giving more green time for vehicles leaving the Costco junction – exactly where the worst queues build up.
Funding still needs to be confirmed, but the scheme is included in the government’s Road Investment Strategy, with decisions in the coming months and delivery between 2026 and 2031.
But we know we need immediate support from Transport for Greater Manchester who control the lights on behalf of National Highways. Costco have paid for monitoring and camera equipment and there was previously an agreement with the control centre to manually override the lights at key times, and that did work to reduce congestion. We need to explore this being reinstated.
In addition many people will tell you the same thing on the ground: a second exit from the petrol station would take pressure off the current car park exit.
There is clearly a willingness to work to find a solution and I’m hopeful we will get there. A follow up meeting is planned.
Jim McMahon OBE MP 