THE Highways Agency was branded 'shambolic' and 'not fit for purpose' at a public inquiry into the controversial Mottram to Tintwistle bypass.

Opponents of the £115m scheme called for the hearing to be adjourned after substantial new evidence was submitted just days before it was due to start.

The proposed 3.5-mile road would take motorists away from the congested roads of Mottram, Hollingworth and Tintwistle, and link Tameside with the A628 Woodhead Pass to Yorkshire.

Charles Calvert, for the Highways Agency, said it had not complied with the statutory requirements when submitting the evidence.

He told the inquiry at Stalybridge Civic Hall there had been a number of difficulties in trying to introduce the new material.

The evidence makes amendments and corrections to the agency's environmental statement.

Stephen Greenhalgh, Highways Agency project leader, said: "There were 330 documents which should have been provided on deposit, 49 were either incorrect or missing in some way.

"I'm advised it has now been rectified."

A number of groups oppose the plans and several called for the public inquiry to be adjourned as they had not had enough time to study the `vast' new evidence.

John Hall, who said he represented the people of Denton and Audenshaw, said: "This late submission is shambolic and totally discredits the inquiry.

"I've already asked for this hearing to be held and now I think it should be adjourned.

"The Highways Agency is not fit for purpose. They have had five months since February to correct their own incompetence and they still have not achieved it.

Unsuitable

"To allow us three days to look at this new evidence is totally and utterly unsuitable."

Anne Robinson, from the Friends of the Peak District, said: "We received this huge tome of documents and we need more time to go through it."

Pat Ellison, from Alternative Proposals for Transport, said: "We had documents cascading down on us, and as an archaeologist it is difficult when you cannot go to the beginning and work through."

Inspector John Watson, chairing the inquiry, agreed to hear opening arguments after which he said he would adjourn the hearing until next Tuesday.

A public inquiry was initially due to be held last year but it was postponed after 1,400 objections were lodged to the scheme.

Residents of Mottram, Tintwistle and Hollingworth have begged for a bypass since the 1970s as lorries have switched from the crowded M62 to cross the Pennines to Sheffield and the south.

The routes carry more than 40,000 vehicles a day, including 4,000 HGVs.

If the bypass opens, the Highways Agency predicts 70 per cent of traffic will be removed from Mottram, over 60 per cent from Tintwistle and about 25 per cent from Hollingworth.

Campaign groups have been set up, both supporting and objecting to the bypass.

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