Prestwich will be affected by another eight-week road closure on Fairfax Road, developers and the council have confirmed.
Motorists and business owners have previously expressed frustration at the repeated diversions on one of the town’s main routes. Fairfax Rd has been shut repeatedly so construction work can be carried out on the new £14m ‘travel hub’, a car park with cycle storage and EV charging.
The closure will run from Monday, March 2 until Friday, May 1, for the final phase of building works. This closure will include the weekends.
Developers Muse and the council previously came to an arrangement with business owners to reopen the road on Saturdays and Sundays, so as not to affect trade. But developers claim it’s now ‘safest and most cost-effective’ to close permanently throughout the two-month period.
Hugh Taylor, Senior Project Manager at Muse, said: “We’re now in the final stretch of the travel hub build, and while we previously put a solution in place to allow the road to open on weekends, as we enter the final phase of construction we will need to close it for the full week over an eight-week period.
“We know that an eight-week road closure is a significant ask of the local community, and we’re grateful for the patience and understanding that residents, businesses and visitors have shown throughout this project.”
Townhall boss Coun Eamonn O’Brien, added he had ‘worked hard to minimise disruption’ but that the closure was necessary for the final stages.
“This is just the first step of our ambitious plans for Prestwich,” he said. “I’m incredibly proud to be working to deliver this vision and I look forward to what the future will bring.”
The roadworks have been challenging for local retailers, who say the closures discourage footfall and also make it harder to accept goods deliveries to restock their venues.
Sean Roche, a Prestwich resident and general manager of Panama Hatty’s Grill told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “It’s incredibly frustrating to see the damage caused by the ongoing road closure. The village is noticeably quieter, footfall has dropped, and this is having a knock‑on effect on businesses of all kinds throughout the village.
“We’re fully behind the regeneration, but it mustn’t come at the cost of our village’s heartbeat.”
The travel hub is part of a £100m+ scheme to transform Prestwich, which also includes demolishing the Longfield Centre and replacing it with a new community hub, foodhall, and 250 homes.
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