Background – Part II: 2006–2009

The inquiry that never was

The next chapter in the Mottram-Tintwistle bypass saga began with the publication of the Draft Orders in January 2006. The deadline was 5th May, so we mobilised all our networks and with the help of RoadBlock raised 1,400 objections, which included significant objections from the Countryside Agency, English Nature, and the National Trust.

On the 7th April 2006, the Peak District National Park Authority announced they would be formally objecting to the plans and making a representation alongside Natural England at the forthcoming public inquiry.

The volume of responses led to a delay in the start of the inquiry, originally planned for Autumn 2006.

Because of this delay, the Environmental Statement was revised and republished for consulation in early 2007. Our response to this consultation is here and here. During this time another 600 responses were submitted, bringing the total number of objections to well over 2,000. Details of the public inquiry were published in April 2007 and John Watson (who was Assistant Inspector on the contraversial Thames Gateway Bridge scheme inquiry) was assigned as inquiry Inspector. After opening for a brief period in late June/early July 2007, there then followed a series of adjournments while the Highways Agency revised their evidence to address errors in the traffic modelling.

By the time the Highways Agency were ready to present their new evidence, 4NW had taken the decision that Mottram-Tintwistle was not a strategic priority and withdrawn funding for the scheme. Consequently, the public inquiry was adjourned once more, and the Highways Agency announced that they were pulling out of the inquiry in March 2009.

Cost escalations

When the scheme first entered the Targeted Programme of Improvements (TPI) in 2003, the estimated cost was £90 million. Just three years later, when plans were first put to consulation in 2006, the estimated scheme cost had risen to £112.5m. However, by the end of the inquiry in 2009, the cost was estimated at between £250 and over £300 million!

Between the Highways Agency and Tameside MBC, over £20 million was spent on scheme design, barristers, public consultation.