COUNCILLOR Mark Aldred says he is appalled and dismayed at the rants and attacks about the Leigh, Salford, Manchester mis-guided busway by wannabe councillors.

That must mean me.

Cllr Aldred goes on to say that he visited the Cambridge guided busway with me and that I said it was a fantastic scheme.

In his dreams.

People who know me are aware that I’ve always opposed the guided busway scheme and pointed out in the press on many occasions the failure of such schemes all over Europe, with many being abandoned or replace by light rail.

I pointed out the problem of the fence being too close to the guided busway which could result in wheelchair passengers being unable to get out in an emergency.

This was verified by a TfGM officer when Cllr James Grundy asked the question at a recent TfGM infrastructure meeting.

Cllr Grundy didn’t get a satisfactory answer as to how the issue would be resolved, other than there would be breaks in the fence which would allow these passengers to alight.

Just what does Cllr Aldred think would have happened had the recent accident on the guided busway resulted in the bus coming off the guideway on the opposite side near to a fence? Would anyone have been able to get off through the door?

However Cllr Aldred says that there’s no problem with the fencing and that there are enough guided buses. Just watch this space.

Cllr Aldred states that I’m against money being spent in the towns of Atherton, Tyldesley and Leigh. Yet he voted against giving each of these areas £1 million from Wigan’s vast reserves in 2015, and again this year despite this money being readily available.

He then says he’s proud to say that TfGM has delivered a scheme that will give more job opportunities throughout Manchester, and ease of access to Manchester hospitals for people over our side of the conurbation, but fails to point out that it will make it easier to shop in Manchester, and most likely result in reduced patronage of our own local town centres.

What Leigh and Tyldesley needed was a heavy rail link to the Atherton line at Walkden Yard, which I’ve been advocating for years but it fell on deaf ears.

This was an opportunity missed and may not happen again for many years.

What a great pity that our Labour councillors don’t listen.

Norman Bradbury

Hillside Avenue

Atherton