A SENIOR traffic officer has branded as chaotic the road leading to the borough's accident and emergency department and urged an alternative route be built to Fairfield General Hospital.

Traffic sergeant Pam Hadfield spoke of Bury police's concerns about Rochdale Old Road at a special meeting of the environment and transport scrutiny and review panel to discuss the building of a new access road to the hospital this week.

The police officer told council and health bosses about the problems faced by her unit when dealing with incidents on the road.

Sgt Hadfield said: "There are huge problems in the area. There was a fatal incident in March and its serious nature meant we had to close off both sides of the road, just 100 yards from the hospital entrance.

"We found out that the hospital had no contingency plans in place for such incidents. The police, traffic wardens had to assist to get ambulances to the hospital and people were asked to walk and no fire engine would have been able to get through, but because of the nature of Rochdale Old Road the situation was chaotic but unavoidable. There is no natural diversion in place to direct traffic to the hospital."

Sgt Hadfield added: "A water burst could cause the same type of disruption. We have problems on a daily basis with the road. I would welcome an alternative road."

Wednesday's meeting was called following high profile campaigns from various sections of the community and calls by individuals for improvements to be made on the road to allow easier emergency access to the hospital.

Mr Mike Cannon, borough engineer, said: "There is an issue and the council are trying to decide the best way to deal with it."

Although a report by Greater Manchester Ambulance Services read out at the meeting stated that there crews were not experiencing difficulties, a number of Paramedics have told the Bury Times that they have had problems using Rochdale Old Road while on an emergency run."

Options the panel agreed to put forward to the the council decision-making body, the executive committee, were to explore:

establishing a emergency only access route at a cost of £1.7 million a new access road from the end of the land direct into the hospital grounds or as a general purpose road at a cost of £2.2 million;

build a new access road from A58 Bury New Road direct into the hospital grounds at a cost of £3.5 million.

examine using the residential routes through the Topping Fold estate/Bridgefield Drive area from Bridge Hall Lane to Rochdale Old Road as a short term interim measure at a cost of £6,000 to £98,000 as a secondary access route from emergency service vehicles.

traffic management to address the existing delays and congestion on the road.

Coun Bob Bibby said: "This was up 18 months ago at my area board, and there is still no decision whether the road is necessary. This has been dragging on too long: it is time to make a decision to go for it or cancel it and the consequences be with us all."

Chief officer for the local health watchdog body, the Community Health Council, Mr Paul Reynolds said the decision made by scrutiny was "a step in the right direction" even it was "a long time coming".

The CHC has been battling for a new access route to Fairfield Hospital since the 1980s, when plans were first announced to merge Bury General with the Rochdale Old Road complex.

He said: "I am very pleased there is a long way to go. All the agencies, such as the local authority, the health body, CHC and the MPs and put our case to the Government."