ministers splash cash on ad for flood-hit road

LISTENERS ARE LEFT BEMUSED BY COMMERCIAL FOR NEW BYPASS OFTEN LEFT UNDER WATER AFTER DOWNPOURS

IT WAS decades in the planning and faced multiple delays. But ever since it opened, the £290m A6 relief road between Hazel Grove and Manchester Airport has had one major problem – it keeps flooding.

The latest downpour left the stretch between the oil terminal and the A34 junction at Handforth Dean completely under water.

In March, five months after the A555 bypass opened to great fanfare, millions of tons of water had to be pumped off it. It flooded again in July and then again in August.

Now users of the music app Spotify in Stockport, south Manchester and Cheshire have been annoyed to find the government has been interrupting their listening with an advert for the road. It is, the ad says, a ‘fantastic’ example of the Northern Powerhouse in action. A character in the advert says: “Since the relief road has opened, my commute to work has reduced by half... it’s fantastic.”

A narrator then adds: “Find out more about how government investment in the Northern Powerhouse is improving transport links in south Manchester at northernpowerhouse.gov.uk.”

One bemused listener told the M.E.N: “There is no need to advertise a road,” they pointed out. “So why is the government doing this?

“They seem to be using taxpayers’ money to influence voters in south Manchester.” Spotify listeners are now left with an advert for a flooded road, one that notably serves not one but two marginal Tory seats – Cheadle and

Hazel Grove, both constituencies Boris Johnson will be looking to defend.

Still, to suggest that had any bearing on the commercial would be cynical.

Especially given that advertising this particular road would perhaps not be the smartest electoral move.

Labour’s Andrew Gwynne, MP for nearby Denton and Reddish and shadow secretary of state for communities and local government, said: ”Since the day that this road scheme opened it has been a disaster and has caused major disruption for people trying to get to work.”

The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government, which oversees the Northern Powerhouse policy area, was approached for comment.