Saddleworth’s troubled junction where Lower Turf Lane meets the A62 Huddersfield Road at Scouthead remains without a fix after years of study, Oldham Council has confirmed.

Highway engineers have wrestled with safety and traffic-flow problems at the spot for more than a decade, holding repeated consultations with residents, community groups and ward councillors. A council spokesman said the Highways and Traffic team is “continuing to look at and develop options” that balance local concerns with network-wide safety, but admitted “discussions are ongoing” and no solution is in sight.

The latest proposal — a draft traffic order that would have made the top of Lower Turf Lane one-way downhill toward the A62 — was shelved this month after fierce opposition. Members of the Saddleworth Community Group told the Council’s principal highways engineer in November that the change would simply push more vehicles onto the narrow residential lane of Heywood Lane. In a unanimous vote, the group rejected the plan and instead asked only for a ban on left turns exiting Lower Turf Lane and a prohibition on right turns entering it from Huddersfield Road.

Rob Knotts, a local resident and former chair of Saddleworth Parish Council, said the junction’s poor sight-lines have made it hazardous for generations. “Joining the A62 presents view difficulties,” Knotts noted. “The most important thing a driver needs … is to be able to see what is coming from both directions.” He added that safety guidelines call for a 70-metre clear field of vision in each direction — a standard the present layout fails to meet.

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