Columnist Tony Porter asks if we need the Wigan Hindley Link Road after walking the route

The Wigan to Hindley Link Road flyer was dropped off at my shop a while back.

I assumed it was the one from the M6 going toward Primrose Farm, but no this is a new, to me, plan.

I say new, apparently a house, maybe two, were demolished well over 40 years ago for this planned road.

I studied the council’s PDF diagrams/maps and am flummoxed as to why it will help out.

All it does is go from the roundabout on the road to nowhere and crosses a road which needs no extra traffic heading that way, onto Hindley at the end of Seaman Way, next to the railway bridge near Walmsley Park, onto Manchester Road: another road prone to heavy traffic in both directions.

Then at the other end of Seaman Way, next to the smart new housing estate, is to be a roundabout that will branch off through Amberswood and pop out on Liverpool Road: yet another heavily congested part of the borough.

The only thing I can think is if traffic travels from Hindley and enters Wigan via the very under-used Westwood Road to Nowhere.

I did a bit on my last Wigan Watch 2026 #12 and then decided to walk the route to see why it is only a two-lane road, one in each direction.

My answer came quickly. After crossing the railway line it squeezes along the old Pemberton Loop line, as it has from the start, between Ince Cemetery and houses, crosses Warrington Road and carries on.

This part is very narrow. Therefore, a two-lane road and wide walking, wheeling and cycling path would be as much as one could fit there with all the drainage too.

The PDF shows numerous crossings for pedestrians and this could make this, on a busy summer’s day, quite a slow journey.

I admit it could cut distances and get folks easily from one main road to another, handy for roadwork diversions and the like, but overall I am still not convinced.

There are public consultations at Spring View Cricket Club and Wigan Town Hall before November 23, (see the council website for dates and times. Tell them I sent you.)

Meanwhile national politics got a tad crazy, with the Tories ahead of Reform in the polls, something I had predicted since before the May local elections.

I am still at a loss as to who I would vote for if we had a General Election this week.

Labour deffo not, the Tories failed for over a decade, the others seem to be untrustworthy. It really is a mess.

Let us hope someone rides out of this melee and gives the people a choice of putting the voters first not their own political career.

Even in America it’s all gone wrong for Trump - who saw that coming?! - in the midterm elections.

He is basically now a lame duck President, which happens a lot over the pond.

Agree or disagree with his policies, you have to admit that Trump did do stuff, stopped migration of illegal aliens, erm knocked down half of The White House and blamed a war for his party’s defeat in this election, a war he started.

I am grateful I do not live in the States, but fear that our politics might follow a similar trend.