Bypass plans to progress as legal challenge fails

Two new roads will bypass the existing A57 to relieve congestion along the route

Plans for a major bypass to ease congestion between two cities in the north of England have taken a step forward.

The A57 Link Roads Mottram Bypass, which will go round the Tameside village on the route between Manchester and Sheffield, is set to go ahead after a legal challenge by environmental campaigners failed.

Jonathan Reynolds, the Labour MP for Stalybridge and Hyde in Greater Manchester, welcomed the removal of the scheme's "final legal hurdle", while Robert Largan, the Conservative MP for High Peak in Derbyshire, said it was the conclusion of "a long and hard fight".

National Highways (NH) has been contacted for comment.

The National Highways project is estimated to take up to three years to build

Locals have campaigned for decades for a bypass to be built around the village.

In 2020, NH revealed that about 25,000 vehicles travelled along the A57 through Mottram every day, including more than 2,000 HGVs.

Plans for the scheme were boosted in November 2022 when Transport Minister Huw Merriman granted a development consent order.

However, the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) sought a judicial review of the plans, claiming the government had failed to consider the environmental impact, alternatives sites and the project's carbon footprint.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said that review had now been rejected by the Court of Appeal.

It added that the court's decision had been "stayed" due to a case regarding another bypass, which had now been resolved.