RESIDENTS living close to Radcliffe’s Metrolink station have vented their frustrations over commuters who are continually parking outside their homes and in other areas of the town centre.

With the tram stop’s car park, in Spring Lane, always filled by 8am on weekdays, it is claimed that drivers are leaving their cars in the surrounding streets, causing chaos for people living there.

After parking surveys completed on nearby Barlow Street, Grey Street and Bridgefield Street showed high levels of overspill on weekdays, residents and councillors alike called for action.

At the recent Township Forum meeting, one angry resident, who lives on Barlow Street, said that the problem seems to be getting worse and that people are not treating the area with enough respect.

She said: “Everyone is coming to Radcliffe to park now. Other places seem to have been able to keep traffic away better than here so I don’t see why we can’t do the same.

“We may as well just rename the town Radcliffe Parkway.”

The claim is that commuters working in Manchester and even in Bury are parking in and around Radcliffe Metrolink as there are no charges or resident parking in place.

Another resident said that the problem is so bad now that people who live in the area are finding it difficult to use important services.

He said: “I can’t get in to park anywhere any more. You can’t even park in the health centre as it is purely filled with commuter’s cars who work in Manchester or Bury who get in there early and stay parked in there all day.

“There are people who really need to use the health centre but simply can’t. This just is not fair and something needs to change.”

He added: “I think that there should be a four hour limit for parking to stop this happening.”

Another issue involving parking in one hour limit bays also arose at the meeting, with one resident claiming that people will park their cars in certain spaces for well over the allowed time.

It is claimed that they can see when an enforcement officer is nearby and move their cars before being caught.

Bury Parking services manager John Foudy recognised the problems and said that consultation was ongoing with Transport for Greater Manchester (TFGM) to find a solution.

He said: “We can’t stop people parking up and using the Metrolink, and that is where the problem lies.

“There are a number of possible solutions, but each one is not sure to resolve the problem.

“We could try traffic regulation orders, bringing yellow lines in for commuters but they would of course also apply to residents.”

He agreed that the surveys conducted have highlighted that there is a problem and that a course of action was needed, but that it was imperative that the most important thing was to make the correct choice and not rush into anything rash.

He added: “Further consultation with TFGM is the best option here and we shouldn’t just rush into a quick short term solution and make the problem worse.”

Cllr Catherine Preston agreed with resident’s concerns and said that people needed to be assured that changes will be made sooner rather than later.

“The problem is, we want more people to come to Radcliffe to boost our economy, but more people means more cars.

“We want people to live here but we just can’t handle the numbers that we are faced with.

“I do feel that if we are being promised that there will be discussions then I feel people need to know when and where these meetings will be taking place-for their own peace of mind.”

Bury Council leader Rishi Shori agreed that although a process has begun now that surveys have been completed, it was now important to make the correct decision about what to do next.

He said: “The next step may mean some sort of ballot for the residents now that the first phase has been completed with the surveys but we are moving in the right direction.”

TfGM said that they were still “reviewing transport requirements as part of their Greater Manchester Transport Strategy for 2040.”