We have now received Tameside Council’s formal response to our urgent road safety proposal submitted last month.
While we appreciate the acknowledgement of our concerns, the Council’s reply does not reflect the everyday reality of danger on the road through Park Bridge.
Residents and visitors alike will be all too familiar with the daily risks vulnerable road users face in Park Bridge. With 2025 being a breaking point year of collisions, near-misses and frightening incidents experienced, including a tragic fatality in August.
Below is a summary of the Council’s letter, our response back to them and how you can help strengthen the case for action.
What Tameside Council has said
In its letter, the Council notes:
- They are sill awaiting Secretary of State approval to use ANPR enforcement powers
- They do not believe current data show an “identifiable collision pattern”
- They reference only one recorded incident in Park Bridge in 2025
- Police-recorded injury collisions are limited and do not currently justify intervention
- They are aware of resident concerns but do not propose any safety measures
While we appreciate the detail provided by Tameside Council, this position does not match what residents are experiencing on the ground, nor does it account for the serious incidents and near misses which are not captured in place data but occur regularly.
Our formal response: A call for urgent action and accountability
We have written back directly to key stakeholders from Tameside Council in a detailed open letter, which we are also sharing publically.
Our response highlights:
- The severe and ongoing risk to life
- Multiple major collisions in 2025
- Daily risk to walkers, children, cyclists and horse riders
- A significant mismatch between official datasets and lived reality
- The councils’ legal duty under Section 39 of the Road Traffic Act 1988
- Their commitments under Vision Zero Greater Manchester, which aims to eliminate road deaths and serious injury by 2040. Which includes reviewing and reducing speed limits where inapropriate
You can read our full response letter here.
Response-to-Tameside-Council-letter-02122025Introducing the Park Bridge road safety incidents log and why it matters
One clear problem is that many serious incidents in Park Bridge never make it into police datasets, meaning local authorities simply do not see the full scale of the danger.
To address this, we have launched the Park Bridge road safety incidents log, a simple online form where residents and visitors can report incidents and road safety concerns.
You can access the form and report an incident you witness or experience here.
This information is critical, and your reports will help us build the evidence base, helping us strengthen our case for intervention by demonstrating a pattern of risk and challenging the council’s sole reliability on police injury data.
We have heard from countless residents and visitors who fear that another tragedy is only a matter of time. This is unacceptable and the council must take action.
Your reports will help ensure that the lived danger experienced in Park Bridge is no longer invisible in official statistics.
Thank you for supporting this work
Your support, your reports and your voices matter.
Together we are building an undeniable case for safer roads, better protection for vulnerable users and responsible use of Park Bridge’s historic and natural environment.
We will continue to update you as soon as there are further developments.