CONGESTION and excessive housebuilding are concerns that my constituents raise with me on almost a daily basis yet, so often, they feel that their voices are being ignored by local authorities who hold the power to serve the interests of our communities.

Driving through Atherton over the last week has been a nightmare, with Bolton Road being closed while repair works took place to fix a burst water main.

I had many local residents get in touch asking me why they were taking so long and with their despair at the traffic on the diversion route, with lorries getting stuck on Douglas Street and elsewhere.

I’ve even heard reports of cars being hit while parked up on the streets that were used as unofficial diversions.

Although these repair works were essential, they do serve to highlight a wider problem, that our local infrastructure is strained.

With Wigan Council’s excessive plans for housebuilding opting to develop thousands more houses than required, no doubt this strain is only going to get worse as more people move into the area.

These are concerns that I am seeing right across the area, with more and more people getting fed up of sitting in traffic and driving over damaged roads, yet we are seeing no meaningful action from our local councils to address these problems.

The Greater Manchester Spatial Framework (GMSF) should have provided a positive vision for the future of our area, improving the standard of our local infrastructure and clearly outlining plans for directed housebuilding across the 10 Greater Manchester boroughs.

This had the potential to help resolve many of the problems with our roads that local residents are faced with today.

Instead, we are still yet to see the new draft of GMSF despite multiple delays and in the meantime our councils are left in limbo, sitting back and allowing undirected housebuilding across our local area without any plans to deliver the much needed improvements to our highways and other crucial parts of our local infrastructure.

I am urging our councils to come up with a plan for the interim while we wait for the delivery of GMSF, so that we can see improvements in our roads and wider infrastructure and ensure that these problems get better rather than worse for local residents over the coming years.

Last month, Atherton was hit with the terrible news of multiple stabbings outside its library, with the three victims being taken to hospital for further treatment for their wounds.

This attack on a contractor and two council staff was absolutely appalling and a man was detained shortly after the incident.

Thankfully incidents such as this are a rarity in our community.

My thoughts have very much been with the victims and their families and I wish them a speedy recovery.