Improving journeys: Royton

Through the Bee Network, we’re building a joined-up transport system that connects people with places and opportunities.

We’re working to improve all your journeys, no matter how you travel: by road, bus, tram, train, walking, wheeling and cycling.

Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and local councils are improving travel along the main route between Rochdale, Royton, Oldham and Ashton town centres (A627 and A671), making it safer, easier and more reliable.

This route is used by the 409 bus service – one of the busiest bus routes in Greater Manchester – and thousands of residents every day.

Improvements will take place through to 2027.

This webpage provides further information on the Royton section of the route. See more about the whole route linking Rochdale, Oldham and Ashton.

Engagement and consultation

We want to improve local streets, roads and journeys in a way that works for everyone.

Oldham Council consulted on the detailed proposals for the Royton section of the route between 17 February and 31 March 2025. You can see more details about this in the ‘Phase three engagement: You said, we did’ section below.

We’ve used your feedback to help shape plans and design schemes that work best for your area.

Next steps

Following engagement and consultation, feedback from residents and businesses has been used to adapt the plans and focus on the things that matter most to the community.

Some advance preparation works will now take place. The main work is expected to start in January 2026, running through to autumn 2026. The work will be carefully planned and carried out in phases to keep disruption to a minimum.
More information will be available on Oldham Council’s website and Oldham Council's Facebook page. Letters will be sent to affected homes and businesses in the area.

The map below provides an overview of the route connecting Rochdale, Royton, Oldham, and Ashton. It highlights several areas in Royton and Oldham, for which more detailed maps are available. These detailed maps show the proposals that have been consulted on for Royton and engaged on for Oldham from 17 February to 31 March 2025.

The proposals for Royton are more developed than the proposals for Oldham, which is why a consultation exercise for Royton and an engagement exercise for Oldham have taken place separately. Engagement is a less formal exercise that comes before consultation.

An engagement exercise for Royton took place in spring 2024, followed by a consultation in February/March 2025. A public consultation for the more detailed Oldham proposals is planned for 2026.

Map 1: Covers proposals for the town of Royton and is located below the overview map.
Maps 2 to 7: Cover proposals for the rest of Oldham and can be found on the Oldham webpage.

Map overview showing the Rochdale Oldham Ashton Bus Corridor. Areas along the A671 proposed for improvement works are highlighted. These are Map 1 Royton Town Centre, Map 2 High Barn Street to Shaw Road, Map 3 Sheepfoot Lane to Featherstall Road North, Map 4 Chadderton Way, Map 5 St Mary’s Way, Map 5 West St gyratory to Union Street, Map 7 King Street Roundabout.

The two maps below show the same stretch of highway in Royton. Map 1a focuses on proposals related to guardrails, bus stops, and the carriageway. Map1b focuses on proposals related to types of paving such as tactile paving and hazard paving. Following both maps there is a bullet point text summary of proposals across both Royton maps.

Map 1a: Royton Town Centre

Map outline showing proposed improvements on Rochdale Road in Royton Town Centre. Improvements proposed are explained in accompanying text and include a new Oldham-bound bus stop, green infrastructure and improvements to High Barn St/Middleton Road junction for pedestrians.

Map 1b: Royton Town Centre

Map outline showing proposed surfacing on Rochdale Road in Royton Town Centre. Improvements proposed are explained in accompanying text and include Yorkshire/Clay paving on footway along Rochdale Road and green space adjacent to the carriageway.

The changes proposed for Royton Town Centre include:

Pedestrian guard rail retained around the pedestrian and cycle crossing opposite the Town Hall and also around High Barn St junction.
Introduction of greenery and improved street drainage along both sides of Rochdale Road between Radcliffe Street and the new southbound bus stop with Yorkshire clay paving.
Cycle stands and new bench seating installed at the entrance to Market Street.
New Oldham-bound bus stop with shelter to be installed next to 22 Rochdale Road to enable better access to the town centre for bus passengers.
Oldham-bound bus stop Radcliffe St (Stop A) to be removed.
Existing Rochdale-bound bus stop to be upgraded with seating and new shelter.
Existing pedestrian and cyclist crossing outside the Town Hall to be retained.
Ornamental lamp columns outside the Town Hall to be retained.
Bollards to replace some of the existing pedestrian guardrail to discourage vehicles from waiting and loading, while improving street environment for pedestrians and safety for cyclists on carriageway.
Existing parking and loading restrictions on Rochdale and Oldham Road to be retained. i.e. no loading at any time.
Removal of right turn lane from High Barn Street to Rochdale Road to widen footways and reduce the time it takes for pedestrians to cross. This means that less time is required for the ‘green man’ phase and the junction will be more efficient for all traffic and buses. It will still be possible to turn right from High Barn Street to Rochdale Road.
Tactile blister paving at access points to all of the push button controlled crossings.
Corduroy hazard warning paving at access points to existing shared space for cyclists and pedestrians at the toucan crossing (from Byron Street to Market Street) and to the north of the crossing.
Corduroy hazard warning paving to mark the end of existing shared space for cyclists and pedestrians at the point where the pavement narrows at the northeast corner of the Co-op car park.

Visualisation of new bus layby

Concept visual of bus layby in Royton

Concept of changes in Royton

Concept visual of royton development

Previous engagement and consultation

From 11 October until 13 December 2021, we asked Greater Manchester residents and stakeholders what they wanted most from their public transport network.

We received 4,125 survey responses and had conversations with 971 people at public drop-in sessions and workshops. Hundreds of respondents were from Rochdale, Oldham, and Tameside and public drop-in sessions took place at Rochdale Interchange, Oldham Bus Station, and Ashton Interchange.

82% of respondents to the survey highlighted service reliability as a priority for their public transport network. The importance of reliability and services between town centres were regularly raised in our conversations and in survey responses.

We believe that improvements on roads to help buses travel more easily can lead to shorter bus journey times and the more reliable services that people in Greater Manchester want from their public transport network.

In Spring 2023, we asked people how they travel between Rochdale, Royton, Oldham and Ashton, what issues they faced, and what they would like to see improved to help them travel by bus, cycle, walking and wheeling more. The results have influenced the proposals to improve journeys between Rochdale, Royton, Oldham, and Ashton.

331 people in total responded to the survey.
87% of respondents were residents of Rochdale, Oldham or Tameside.
35% of respondents travelled to or between Rochdale, Royton, Oldham, or Ashton town centres daily, 37% at least once a week, and 21% between once a week and once a month.
65% of respondents had travelled the route in the past for shopping, 50% for recreation or leisure, and 44% commuting to a regular place of work.

Most people told us that they would like to see bus services in the area improved, and safer cycling routes to be created. The table below summarises some key points of feedback and how we are responding in our proposals.

You said, we did

A quicker and more reliable service

You said:

73% of respondents that use the bus to travel between Rochdale, Royton, Oldham and Ashton want to see the reliability of services improved and 27% wanted to see
the speed of bus services improved.
55% of respondents that don’t currently use the bus feel they would be able to if services were more reliable; and 27% if speed of services was improved.

We did:

We are proposing a bus lane to south of Kingsway Queensway junction to help the bus get to the front of the traffic queue and are looking at options to improve bus reliability through Oldham Town Centre.
We will improve traffic signals at junctions to give late running buses priority.

Better information for customers

You said:

Nearly a third (29%) of respondents travelling by bus on this route requested improved customer information on buses and at bus stops and 21% of those not travelling by bus felt this would enable them to use the bus.

We did:

We are proposing to have real time information on key bus stops along the route.
As part of the delivery of the Bee Network we are aiming to provide real time information with audio visual announcements on all our buses by 2026.

Better bus stops

You said:

23% of bus users said that they would like to see more safety infrastructure, such as CCTV and lighting, at bus stops; and 19% of people that don’t use the bus said that
these measures would help them use the bus.

We did:

We are planning to improve bus stops along the Rochdale Oldham Ashton corridor to make them safer and more accessible.

Better walking, cycling and wheeling routes

You said:

The most important factors that people who walk, cycle or wheel between Rochdale, Royton, Oldham and Ashton want to see improved are road crossing facilities (32%), and cycle lanes segregated from motorists (21%).
Those that do not currently walk, cycle or wheel, also felt that better road crossing facilities (32%) and cycle lanes segregated from motorists (30%) would enable them to.

We did:

We are proposing better cycling routes from Balderstone Park to Baron St in Rochdale Town Centre, and improved crossing facilities along the route.

From 26 February to 24 March 2024 we engaged on the outline proposals for the Royton section of the route through an online and paper survey and at two drop-in sessions.

You said:

Reliability of bus services is a necessary improvement for both bus users and non-bus users to make more bus journeys.

We did:

Brought bus services back under control, including the 409 service which serves along the entire Rochdale-Oldham-Ashton corridor. This bus service is the most used Bee Network service in Tranche 2 and has continually improved reliability since launching 24 March 2024.

In Royton, we’ve designed improvements to the High Barn St/Middleton Road junction with the 409 route to improve junction performance and therefore, reliability of journeys. All feedback on services has been shared with the team within Transport for Greater Manchester, where we are conducting service reviews now we’re back in control of our local bus network. A separate consultation for Oldham will take place on bus service improvements in due course.

You said:

Removing the guard railing would be dangerous for pedestrians and enable pavement parking.

We did:

Retained guard rail at multiple crossing points along the corridor, at point where pedestrians are most like to encounter traffic. We have proposed bollards at locations where vehicles are most likely to stop. This would reduce obstacles on the pavement (street clutter) and remove a risk of cyclists and pedestrians getting caught on the wrong side of the guardrail next to traffic.

You said:

New verge planting along the pavement is too much clutter and may make the pavement less navigable.

We did:

Revisited our designs to ensure the pavement is a suitable width for pedestrians. We have included landscaping and new bench seating away from the road for an improved experience of visiting Royton.

You said:

Better shelters at bus stops would improve your bus experience in the town centres.

We did:

Include upgraded bus stops with raised platforms for step free access when boarding the bus and new bus shelters in our design proposals. Reinforcing our commitment to a fully accessible network and improving your overall journey experience – on and off the bus.

Oldham Council consulted on the detailed proposals for the Royton section of the route between 17 February and 31 March 2025.

457 survey responses were received, and 113 members of the public attended the two drop-in sessions at Royton Town Hall, on 27 February and 6 March.

Many people supported the key project benefit – to improve journey times along the Rochdale, Oldham and Ashton route. Respondents were also in favour of the proposed improvements to cycling, walking and wheeling facilities around Royton Town Centre.

You said:

Concerns were raised around the volume of traffic turning right from High Barn Street onto Rochdale Road, in Royton Town Centre.
Some concerns were raised about the proposals to remove sections of the pedestrian guardrails, intended to encourage motorists to reduce speed, make the roads safer for people walking, wheeling and cycling, and improve the public environment.

We did:

We have carried out automated traffic flow counts at this junction and adjusted traffic light signal timings to allow traffic to flow more freely through this junction.
We are planning to keep the guard rail at multiple crossing points along the route, at points where pedestrians are most like to come across traffic. That includes on the direct approach to the signal-controlled pedestrian crossing point in Royton town centre. This will be supported by landscaping at the kerbside in Royton town centre, which will create a natural barrier between the pavement and the road.

Frequently asked questions

A range of views were received during the public consultation, with 457 survey responses and 113 members of the public attending two drop-in sessions.

Many respondents supported the key project benefit – to improve journey times along the Rochdale, Oldham and Ashton route.

Respondents were also in favour of the proposed improvements to cycling, walking and wheeling facilities around Royton Town Centre.

Some respondents expressed concerns about the proposals to remove sections of the pedestrian guardrails, intended to encourage motorists to reduce speed, make the roads safer for people walking, wheeling and cycling, and improve the public environment.

There were also queries about whether the right turn from High Barn Street onto to Rochdale Road would be removed. Find out more about these aspects of the scheme in the frequently asked question below.

During engagement on this scheme there were comments about the proposals to remove pedestrian guardrails.

Evidence from previous studies shows that removing pedestrian guardrails can encourage motorists to reduce their speed, make the roads safer for people walking, wheeling and cycling, as well as improving the public environment.

Following engagement on the original proposals in 2024, we are planning to keep the guard rail at multiple crossing points along the route, at points where pedestrians are most like to come across traffic. That includes on the direct approach to the signal-controlled pedestrian crossing point in Royton town centre.

This will be supported by landscaping at the kerbside in Royton town centre, which will create a natural barrier between the pavement and the road.

We have also proposed bollards at locations where vehicles are most likely to stop.

This will also reduce obstacles on the pavement (street clutter) and remove the risk of cyclists and pedestrians getting caught on the wrong side of the guardrail next to traffic.

No. You will still be able to turn right from High Barn Street on to Rochdale Road. However, we will remove the dedicated right turn lane at this junction, to allow pedestrians to cross the road more quickly and improve safety.

The traffic lights at this junction will be retimed, enabling longer green times on the junction approaches, which will in turn improve traffic flow for all road users.

Some advance works will take place during October and November 2025 to prepare for the main works starting. The main improvement work is expected to start in January 2026 and run through to autumn 2026.

Oldham Council and their contractors will carry out the improvement works. More detailed information will be available soon:

Oldham Council regeneration works website.
Oldham Council upcoming roadworks website.

There will inevitably be some disruption whilst the improvement works take place. The work will be carefully planned and carried out in phases to keep disruption to a minimum.

Updates will be shared regularly through:

Oldham Council’s website and Facebook page .
Letters to affected homes and businesses in the areas.

Funding

Funding for the work has been provided through the government’s City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS), which saw Greater Manchester awarded £1.07bn to help deliver the Bee Network. This is funding aimed at:

Improving and developing local transport networks – particularly public transport networks – and cycling, walking and wheeling routes.
Opening up new areas and improving links to jobs, education and housing.
Creating innovative new transport schemes to solve problems.

Funded by UK government logo