Traffic has been banned next to an estate in Bolton – and some residents aren’t pleased about it. Scargill Road off the Cressingham Road estate has been permanently closed to drivers following concerns it was being used as an escape route for drug dealers during police chases.
The issues, which were raised by GMP during a recent council meeting, included non-residents driving fast through the area. Large bollards have since been placed in the middle of the street, blocking traffic from entering or leaving that part of the estate.
There were two objections against the ban, with some saying it would increase traffic levels on Cressingham Road and Hawkshead Drive, the other two routes out of the estate.
Despite the complaints, the permanent closure of the road was approved after trial – but how do residents on the Cressingham Road estate feel about it now, weeks after it became permanent?
“It's now a dumping ground, everyone dumps their rubbish and glass bottles. It's awful,” Katherine Antrobus, 29, said. "Not that long ago someone tried coming through the estate and ran into the bollards. We got a letter through the post the day before it happened then they were up, it was done.”
One resident, who did not wish to give his name, said the Scargill Road closure has led to children using the area to play football.
“We have to do an extra half a mile every trip because we have to go through the estate. The roads aren't good as it is anyway,” the 59-year-old added.
“Now we have kids playing football even though we have an actual football field on the estate. Parents are too scared of sending their kids down there; it's a pain in the neck. Instead of nipping down the street, we have to go all the way around the estate and most of us find it a pain.
“My neighbour is in her 90s and I know kids have to play but the kids kick a ball at her back fence and not each other. My wife used to use the road to take our grandchildren to school and now she's got to go all the way around.
“It's caused more traffic down the bottom of the estate. It's not nice for neighbours around there because they get a lot more traffic. We're spending more money on petrol and my sister-in-law says her car is being hit by footballs.”
Resident Peter Almond says it's affected his commute. “I used to catch the bus into work and now I have to walk down to the main road to catch another bus,” the 66-year-old told the Manchester Evening News.
"I've heard various stories that it was to stop vehicles driving into the estate because they were stolen cars. Another one was that it was done because there were vehicles coming into the estate and it was to do with buying drugs.
“I've lived here for over 20 years and in that time I've only ever known one vehicle that came into the estate but it drove onto the bottom end. It tried to turn down there but didn't make the turn and drove into a sign post. Before they blocked it off, there was a bus that used to come here and when it took the corner it couldn't get round because of the cars that parked over there. There were complaints about it.”
When resident Michelle Worsnop found out the road was being closed for good, she said she was “annoyed”. “You have to use more petrol going all the way round,” the 42-year-old said. “People are dumping rubbish, mainly homeless people that hang out around there. “I've never noticed any police chases or anything.”
But resident Julie Glynn, 50, says the closure is one of the “best things to every happen” to the area. She added: “There were drug dealers and all sorts coming round and dropping off, children play there, why should they see that?
"Cars came speeding around and kids could have got knocked down and everything. It was horrible.”
A spokesperson for Bolton Council said: “Following requests made to local councillors a trial closure scheme was implemented. This has subsequently been made a permanent closure of the road to vehicular traffic.”
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