A STAGGERING 300 residents have responded to a call to bring the M62 relief road scandal before the Parliamentary Ombudsman.

Now, council leaders in Bury have to begin the task of sifting through the hundreds of complaints to find a number of test cases which will be used to prove maladministration on the part of the Government over its handling of the motorway scheme and its eventual scrapping.

Bury Council's Relief Road Steering Group was set up to fight the proposed road which would have resulted in the loss of more than 300 houses. It then stayed on to fight the problems created by the blight status of empty homes

The group sent out questionnaires to everyone affected in the Whitefield area after it was thought the handling of the affair, by the Highways Agency and Department of Transport was less than satisfactory.

Coun Derek Boden, steering group chairman, said: "When we sent out the questionnaires we expected a big response but I think even we were shocked by the depth of feeling the replies have shown.

"It is quite obvious that people living in the affected areas believe that they have seen a decline in their communities as a result of this scheme. They feel that the Government is to blame and should be brought to account for what it has done."

Coun Boden and steering group deputy chairman, Coun Ivan Lewis, are working their way through the responses to find a number of test cases which local MP, David Sumberg, will present to the Parliamentary Ombudsman.

Bury Council is still pursuing all other avenues open to them to gain compensation and other assistance for residents. Meanwhile, Coun Boden says that the people who sent in questionnaires will be replied to personally.

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