PLANS to pedestrianise a busy road in Altrincham have been indefinitely put on hold and those living nearby are furious.

During lockdown, Trafford Council announced its potential plans to shut off Barrington Road along with others in the borough to traffic.

In a similar move to the pedestrianisation of Deansgate in Manchester city centre, the idea had been to construct a barrier at the junction between Sandiway Road and Gaskell Road for up to a year and a half.

Proposals were circulated, a traffic order appeared on the council’s website stating the barrier would be in place by June 20. And residents received letters with further details. But the authority has now confirmed the scheme has been paused.

The idea was heralded as part of the council’s aim to bring about a cleaner, greener borough for current and future residents and reduce pollution.

The busy road is a main route through Altrincham for buses, lorries and cars, but the hope was to restrict it to pedestrians and cyclists; reducing pollution, noise and vibrations from passing traffic.

Now it doesn’t look like that’s about to happen any time soon and some of those living on or near Barrington Road are furious.

John Baxter is 65 and cares for his elderly mother who has dementia. He and his family live just off Barrington Road.

He said: “The residents are outraged. [In May] We received a letter through the post outlining the plan to put a barrier across Barrington Road stopping all through traffic except for cyclists and walkers and our household rejoiced at this news.

“Our lives have been ruined since moving to our new home in November 2017.

"The buses relentlessly drive up and down along with numerous HGVs and cars. This caused the tarmac to fall apart and our house started to shake.

“My bed was hopping across the floor and I got seriously ill with migraines because of sleep deprivation, I had to sleep on a single mattress on the ground floor kitchen.”

Mr Baxter said all this was caused by the large vehicles crashing into the ruts and pot holes along the road outside his home, causing “huge vibrations” in houses along the route.

He added: “It only stopped when the road was resurfaced in February 2018, but is already starting to break up.”

After receiving the letter announcing the plans to pedestrianise Barrington Road, Mr Baxter checked online to see the details of the plan, but was shocked by what he found.

He said: “I was absolutely gutted to see the Barrington Road barrier put on hold. I felt betrayed and disgusted that the council could send these letters to all the residents building their hopes up only to destroy them, it was horrible.

“It was brought about by selfish people in the surrounding areas who complained that they were worried that some of the traffic would come down their roads and that the residents of Barrington Road should just keep on enduring the traffic problem.”

A One Trafford spokesman, for the partnership between Trafford Council and its contractors Amey, said: “Following concerns from residents living around Barrington Road, Altrincham, we are reviewing potential options to continue the cycleway into Altrincham as part of our commitment to active travel and cycleways.

“In the meantime a decision was made to put Barrington Road closure plans on hold.”

Residents can continue to add their thoughts and comments on the proposals for Barrington Road and others at https://safestreetstrafford.commonplace.is/ through the council’s Safer Streets campaign.