A ROW has broken out over plans to suspend or alter three major bus lanes in Bury.

In a report presented to a full meeting of Bury Council, proposals were announced to suspend the Rochdale Road bus lane for up to 18 months, while those on Bolton Road and Manchester Road would be redesigned.

A five-month assessment was carried out on the traffic congestion caused by bus lanes, after a Conservative-led motion was unanimously supported by councillors in April. But it was claimed the report did not go far enough.

Councillor Roy Walker said: “I don’t think this report is at all satisfactory. To me, ‘redesign’ means ‘keep’, and ‘suspend’ means ‘get rid of’. 

“I don’t know what the methodology has been that means we get rid of one lane and keep the others. There was unanimous support for this in April in the hope that we could get rid of them.

“Something has gone wrong somewhere with this report.”

The report recommended that the termination point of the Manchester Road bus lane be moved 20 metres south and the bus stop moved further south.

Sections of the Bolton Road bus lane will be left in situ and reviewed in six months' time in light of Lidl’s plans to modify the highway as part of their Victoria Street development.

The report stated that the changes to Bolton Road would better draw drivers’ attention to the bus lane system, which currently causes some confusion.

It also concluded that, while bus lanes are perceived to be the main cause of congestion on key routes around the town centre, there are other wider issues that have contributed to queues.

Council leader Mike Connolly hit back at criticism of the plans, saying: “This was a very genuine attempt to address a concern raised by this council.

“It’s only sensible to look again at how to redesign Bolton Road in six months' time given the new development and planned changes to the road there. There’s no point doing something now and having to look and change it again very shortly.”

Councillor Tim Pickstone, the Liberal Democrat leader, suggested that there should be a review of other bus lanes in the borough, including those through Prestwich.

The motion was passed by the council, though Conservative councillors abstained from the vote.