Are Tameside MBC manipulating the Mottram traffic lights?

We've heard reports - and experienced ourselves - delays caused by very noticeable changes in the traffic light sequence at Mottram over the past few days. Last week saw some extremely short sequences at the traffic lights between Market Street and Stalybridge Road, leading to long delays along the A57 in either direction - one contact reported that it took 2 hours to get from Denton into Glossopdale at rush hour evening one day last week.

This week has seen the sequences reversed, with long delays for local traffic between Broadbottom and Mottram.

We've reported on this seemingly deliberate manipulation of the traffic lights once before, but it does appear to be rather extreme of late, just as the prospects of the bypass begin to look shaky, and Tameside want to build their own version.

We welcome any insight that NMB readers can provide - if you have insider insight into these matters and have evidence that it is deliberate, let us know.

TMBC, Longdendale Siege & David Moore: the truth

Hands up who believes the propaganda of Tameside MBC & Longdendale Siege Committee that the Longdendale Bypass is meant to relieve the three villages of congestion? If there are any that read this weblog, then this post may make you think again. For those who already suspect it is lies, here is the evidence that seems to have lain buried, until now.

Readers of local newspapers may be familiar with one David Moore. A person of that name used to regularly write in to advocate pro bypass views, as well as launch vitriolic attacks on anti-bypass campaigners (to be fair, we could be said to be the 'anti David Moore' in that respect, as it's our style too). Some examples are here and here (notice the classic Chronicle/Daily Mail/Fascist headline for the latter - 'Minority views are not valid'). We're not sure whether or not he had any direct affiliation with the Longdendale Siege Committee, but given his views and willingness to write to the newspapers (and regularly get published) we'd be surprised if he didn't. The fact that he lives in Hollingworth makes it seem highly unlikely that he is a stranger to them.

But what can be revealed with certainty is that someone called David Moore (with the fizzog displayed above) used to work for Tameside MBC. His contact details are on this page of this website. Go on, take some time to read what the website is about.

Yes, he was the Project Manager for the North European Trade Axis (NETA), an organisation seemingly run by TMBC from their offices. He also clearly has affiliations with the North West Regional Assembly, given the alternate email address on the contact page.

So what is NETA about? Lots of things, full of awful public language, the new bourgeois coded speech. But looking at the website and the conference reports, there talk of Transpennine Corridors, and 'management of M62 traffic flows'. But next to David Moore's face on the 'welcome' page is this more intelligible blurb:

"The NETA project seeks to develop and promote a West-East Eurocorridor extending from Northern and Southern Ireland across the Irish Sea to the Transpennine Corridor of Northern England and thence via the Humber ports and North Sea to the Netherlands, North Germany, Poland and beyond"

Given that TMBC are the facilitators of this project, we can now clearly link them with a project to develop their leg of a 'braided' (their terminology) trans-european transport network: in this context 'management of M62 traffic flows' can only mean one thing - diversion of key (trade) traffic elsewhere. Clearly, leaving the M1 to avoid the M62 and thereby accessing the M60 to head to the Western ports for Ireland and vice versa: the Longdendale Bypass.

Because the website was last updated in 2005, it looks like the project isn't exactly thriving, and we're not sure why this is. We wonder if the project is on hold, given the delays of the Public Inquiry.

We feel that this post is not the end of this issue, and we hope to return to it again in future.

In the meantime, if you really do believe the Longdendale Bypass is meant to relieve the three villages of congestion, ask Tameside and David Moore for explanations as to what NETA is all about. And come and tell us what they said. Food for throught.

NB: since we originally posted this article, the NETA website has mysteriously disappeared! We have changed the links to point to the pages captured by the internet archive.

Tricks of the light(s)

Those travelling through Longdendale along the A628 and A57 may well have experienced horrendous traffic jams so far this week. The roads have been packed at peak times, and two facts make us suspicious.

Firstly, it's half term for many schools in the area. Longdendale is noticeably much more pleasant and relatively free of traffic whenever the schools are shut.

Secondly, the jams are taking place as early as 6.30 a.m., which is usually much quieter than peak time.

Could it be anything to do with the fact that the Public Inquiry recommences next week? After all, it wouldn't be the first time that the traffic light sequences in Longdendale have been altered, most notoriously around the time of the ends of previous Bypass consultation periods. And in the past, roadworks also seem to have popped up at similarly coincidental moments.

Is it us that are the cynical ones? Or is it those who think they can manipulate the patience of local people and through-commutersin to back their road proposal which will only bring more of this misery to the area?

*UPDATE: things had returned to normal by Thursday 1st November. Someone must have thrown the switch...

How convenient...

People travelling along Woolley Bridge Road from Hadfield will have noticed the slow and steady destruction on the road surface over the past few months, in particular the 50 yards or so leading up to the mini-roundabout at the (former) Spread Eagle pub with became very dangerous (virtually lethal for cyclists).

There's little doubt that the rapid deterioration is due in no small part to the increased HGV traffic coming to and from Rossington Park, because the wear was worst where the A57 meets Woolley Bridge Road.

So isn't it so convenient that a complete resurfacing has been completed this weekend gone - just in time for Inspector John Watson's site visits, which commence tomorrow?

Vanished...

...but not quite without a trace.

In this post, we drew attention to some suspicions we had formed (and also that were out there on the world wide web) about whether or not a Longdendale Councillor, Sean Parker-Perry, was the pipsqueak behind the roadmonkey pro-road weblog.

Then, last week, a long article appeared in the Glossop Chronicle about how Sean Parker-Perry (poor iccle lamb) and Roy Oldham (erm, poor old mutton) were the victims of a horrible internet conspiracy to call them potty names on the internet, specifically wikipedia. Or something.

Looking at the edit histories their respective pages (here and here), it's clear that there's been something of an edit war going on. But what's more interesting is that the one complaining loudest about editing has been no slacker himself. He outed himself on wikipedia last year, and this list of contributions by the user with the IP address 83.104.50.161 yields a lot of obsessive activity on certain pages, some of which lead back to complaints by Cllr Parker-Perry of editing on his own page. Coincidentally, the same IP address is a frequent visitor to this site, often leaving comments. Furthermore, if you plonk this IP address in an IP search engine, it comes out as the ISP demon.co.uk.

But the best bit is the page set up by wiki administrators mulling over whether Sean Parker-Perry's only other corner of the internet should be deleted. Apparently, it's not worth the hassle and he's not notable enough. We could have told anyone that...

So what a surprise that when one visits http://www.bypasswarrior.blogspot.com/ today - it's disappeared. As quickly as it appeared. One can only surmise that if it was not our Sean behind it, then surely, it would carry on. After all, roadmunkey himself said he would 'fight to the end'. Or until the local papers started digging too deep - or until he took advice to shut his mouth.

And the councillor's myspace page seems to have been also similarly shorn of all content in somewhat of a hurry.

But he's also been lazy. So look here for his Technorati page which shows parts of the blog. And the Google cache of one his last incarnations is here.

This issue is by no means over. There's strong evidence that a Longdendale Councillor has been meddling with information on an encyclopedia to make him, his colleagues, and his employer look good, as well as silence any form of dissent. Furthermore, the roadmunkey blog took vicious potshots at people known only to him and some of us, in a manner calculated to intimidate.

But he hasn't vanished - he's left his pawprints all over the web for further study and analysis. And no doubt his blog will re-appear soon (we'll let you know when).

NB - update on Friday 15/06/2007: it appears that admins have decided to delete the Parker-Perry wikipedia page and therefore it no longer exists. This also means that a log of his and others contributions to this page also no longer exist. In any effort to erase history, someone (with the IP address 83.104.50.161 again), is also asking that the Longdendale Bypass page suffer the same treatment.

Coincidences

It's like an irritating fly that won't leave you alone...

We are loathe to draw attention to pipsqueaks who are largely talking to themselves, but roadmunkey has an interesting blog today.

He prattles on about some letter in the Glossop Chronicle 2 weeks ago, where one of Longdendale's less interesting Councillors gets his knickers in a twist over a regular letter writer to the Glossop Chronicle/Tameside Reporter, one Daniel Hooper.

Strangely, in this letter Councillor Parker-Perry seems to have as similar an obsession with Mr Hooper as roadmunkey has. Also, he is indignant about Rossington Park - as is roadmunkey. And lastly, the councillor's letter to the Chronicle also goes on about how the CPRE supposedly supports the bypass, as does the 'bypasswarrior' (sic) website. Coincidental? How the fuck should we know...?

Now we thought the latter issue was settled some time ago. We pointed out to CPRE that roadmunkey was blatantly lying about CPRE support for the bypass, and they sent him an email pointing that out. He must have ignored it, because the link is still there. But unbeknownst to him, it has been changed to make it clear no such support is forthcoming, and it carries a link for those interested in opposing the bypass.

Touché. Fly duly swatted.