Construction has been proposed to put traffic-calming road humps along a popular road in Royton which has been described as 'like a racetrack' for speeding drivers.

Last year, Oldham Council said work would begin to make Salmon Fields safer following concerns by residents about speeding in the area.

The scheme has been jointly funded by Oldham Council's Local Improvement Fund and the Bee Network crossings project.

The Bee Network crossings project was launched in 2019 to make it safer for people to cross busy roads in key locations across the region.

A Toucan crossing was also proposed for Leonard Way, where the railway lines meet at Salmon Fields road, to make it safer for residents to access Royton Linear Park.

The Oldham Times: The Salmon Fields road planThe Salmon Fields road plan (Image: Oldham Council)

A notice has since been erected to construct the road humps on Salmon Fields near the junctions, Shaw Road, Leonard Way and Higginshaw Lane.

Leader of Oldham Council, Amanda Chadderton said at the time: "It has been a long-standing complaint from residents that some people are driving too fast along Salmon Fields.

"We have carried out a speed survey and the average speed of cars is over 40mph - Salmon Fields is a 30mph road."

The councillor said the local authority had successfully bid for the new crossing and added: "Salmon Fields is a beautiful area of Royton and we want to open it up, make it safer and more accessible so as many people as possible can enjoy it."

However, some residents in Royton don't appear happy with the proposed speed bumps with some claiming the road is frequented by HGVs and artic trucks.

A man wrote: "I hope everyone is looking forward to the noise of HGV's crashing over them at all hours of the day. Best of luck sleeping if you live either side of the valley."

A woman agreed and said the noise from Salmon Fields is already "absolutely horrific" as she said she could hear "metal on metal" coming from trucks "all night long".

"People are having sleep disturbances and something has to be done - I don't think putting humps in will help. That's only going to make it worse", she added.

Another said: "It's a bypass built to take the traffic off Turf Lane and service the warehouses. There isn't one house on that road - there are no residents.

"This will only encourage traffic including heavy goods vehicles to use Turf Lane instead of navigating chicanes road humps and a pedestrian crossing that will hold traffic up."

Another raised a concern as to how ambulances might use the road to take patients to the new diagnostic centre. 

But in defence of the scheme, one woman wrote: "You can't please some people. Everyone has been whinging for ages about speeding on there and now they are doing something about it and people are whinging about them dealing with it."

A man also said: "The road is built for HGV's but is used as a racetrack by idiots at night. It needed slowing down."