Disabled residents criticise Oldham's 'bone shaking' roads

While potholes and loose gravel irritate motorists on Oldham's roads, disabled residents who require a wheelchair or mobility scooter to get around town have criticised the lack of consideration for their wheels.

Rebecca Bland, from Royton, is one such individual who faces difficulties with her mobility scooter.

She has been taking photographs to document problematic paths and has pointed out that there are numerous areas in dire need of repair.

Ms Bland said some of the lowered kerbs in her area are "horrendous to get up and down on" and criticised "whoever thought these were acceptable".

Just one of the examples of a poorly designed drop kerb in Royton. Photo by Rebecca Bland.

She continued: “I live in Royton and 99 per cent (of the streets) are like this.

“And the cobbled streets in Oldham are boneshakers."

Neil Dockerty, a social worker and social action coordinator at OPAL, a charity that advocates for people with autism and learning disabilities in Oldham agreed that drop kerbs are presenting a problem.

Mr Dockerty said: “We have found that there is a lack of drop kerbs, particularly along Yorkshire Street and on George Street”.

He also said that some streets can be uneven in places, typically around the market, which again can affect wheelchair access.

Mr Dockerty added: “The cobbles aren’t great, but our service users have generally invested in extra bum padding by now.” 

Kenny Fletcher is a disability campaigner who fought for three years to make North Chadderton accessible for prams, wheelchairs and sensory impaired people.

After a tireless campaign, the Council eventually established ramps at the start of 2021.

However, work remains to be done.

Mr Fletcher is encouraging people who may be affected by the lack of accessible routes in Oldham to join his group, Oldham Borough Access Forum.

The group works together to highlight areas and to discuss a lack of access in buildings for disabled people.

Mr Fletcher added: “By law, all buildings open to the public have to be accessible to prams, wheelchairs, people with walking difficulties and sensory impairment.”

In response to the criticism, a spokesperson for Oldham Council said: “Oldham has a small number of cobbled streets in the borough.

“These are typically minor roads in areas deemed historic, and are maintained to the same standard and specification ­- in the same way, we maintain all the adopted highways, regardless of their construction.”

The spokesperson said the council would alter its approach to the cobbled streets, but only in the event that resurfacing would be required.

“In these instances, we would likely overlay the cobbled sets and leave them underneath the new surface, rather than remove them entirely as we would with a tarmacked or cemented highway.”

On the issue of lowered kerbs, the council said the Traffic Team has a limited annual budget to try to introduce more lowered kerbs for wheelchair users and mobility scooters, but that these are only considered on a case-by-case basis.

However, new lowered kerbs have been introduced on Milford Avenue and Lynton Avenue off Hollins Road as well as the Delph village centre, The Orchards in Crompton and Longfield Crescent in Sholver.

Locals who come up against inadequate accessibility routes should contact the Council to report their experiences.

The spokesperson added: “Unfortunately, addressing the whole problem at once would be too costly and so we encourage Oldham’s residents to contact highways with specific requests that can be recorded, prioritised and where budgets allow, be actioned.”