Overgrown motorway roundabout a 'complete eyesore'

Middleton resident, Margaret White said the neglected feel of the roundabout gave people visiting the area a poor first impression

A roundabout on a Greater Manchester motorway has been branded a "complete eyesore" due to overgrown weeds and litter.

Margaret White, a resident of Middleton, Rochdale, said she had been trying to get the roundabout by junction 19 on the M60 tidied up for over a year.

She said overgrown trees and shrubs needed cutting back as they masked road signs and barriers, with sightlines compromised.

The roundabout lies within both the Rochdale and Bury Council boundary areas and both authorities said they had already taken or would be taking steps to address these concerns.

"It's a complete mess when it's supposed to be a gateway coming into Middleton and North Manchester," said Ms White.

She said she had been contacting the councils responsible for the area for around 15 months but nothing appeared to have been done.

Old signs from events at nearby Heaton Park and detritus from roadworks was also a blight on the roundabout, Ms White said

"It's three lanes around the roundabout and I know so many people who said they have been sideswiped because they don't know which lane to go in," Ms White told BBC Radio Manchester.

A Rochdale Council spokesman said the authority was responsible for a small section of the roundabout.

Street sweeping teams have been sent to the area and a large scale clean-up involving cutting back some of the bushes to increase visibility had taken place, they said.

Road markings on the section of road they were responsible for would soon be refreshed, the spokesman added.

A Bury Council spokesperson said its street teams were being sent out this week in response to BBC Radio Manchester highlighting the issue.

Alan Quinn, Bury Council's cabinet member for the environment, said they would co-ordinate the work with their counterparts at Rochdale Council.

He said he would ask council staff to look into the concerns about faded road markings and the overgrown vegetation would be cut back again "very soon".