A BREWERY boss has vented his frustration over Oldham roadworks that are leaving hundreds of cars in “absolute gridlock”.

William Lees-Jones, chief executive at JW Lees Brewery in Middleton and the chair of the Oldham Town Deal Board, said the roadworks on Grimshaw Lane at Middleton Junction are causing “traffic chaos”.

On one day it took William 15 minutes just to get out of the brewery’s car park.

He said: “In some instances, the traffic comes to an absolute gridlock.

"What is a reasonably simple piece of road laying seems to be taking an awfully long time.”

The road works that began on February 14, and are intended to make the dangerous junction safer for pedestrians, were meant to only be a 10-week programme, according to William.

“We had a colleague that was very nearly killed by a driver on that crossroads, and I’ve been campaigning to make it safer.

"It just seems to be badly planned; it’s causing a huge amount of people who have no voice a lot of delays.

“Literally hundreds of cars are being stuck every day for inordinate amounts of time.

"It strikes me that they could have done it so much better”, he added.

 

William, who is from Middleton, has also said that it is vital that Oldham gets the roads running smoothly to be worthy of investment.

“You need to get the basics right and build on that. For me although I don’t know what the solution is, I’m not a transport planner, I do know that after spending the last two months in traffic jams it’s starting to really irritate me.

“We want to get people invested in Oldham and get people working and getting this stuff right is not that difficult”, he said.

Last week William tweeted a photo of the view of the roadworks from his office window at the brewery and wrote that the four-way lights were “causing mayhem”.

Oldham Council responded to the Tweet with a reply that read: “We're sorry to hear these works are causing long delays.

"We have alerted our highways team to this matter for them to look into it further.”

In a new statement, a spokesperson from Oldham Council said:“We’re currently carrying out improvement work on Grimshaw Lane, including the installation of pedestrian crossings.

“This will make the area safer for pedestrians and road users.

“This is a complex scheme due to the existing narrow single lane underneath the railway bridge and when it’s completed it will help with the traffic flow.

"In order to carry out this work quickly and safely, temporary traffic lights are needed, and this means there will be delays, unfortunately.

“One issue we have identified is motorists tailgating at the lights and causing further delays to traffic so if you are using this route, please think of other road users.

“We understand people's frustrations and would like to apologise for the inconvenience this has caused.

“As ever we’ll attempt to complete the work as soon as possible. In the meantime, you may want to consider using an alternative route, if you can.”