Residents on an unadopted street in Whitefield say they have been plagued by potholes for decades, but cannot get them fixed. Craters dot the small stretch of road off Park Lane, known as Park Terrace, and recent rain has filled them with water. Residents jokingly refer to the area as 'Lake Park Terrace'.
Behind the humour lies very real concerns over the state of the road, with people saying they feel ignored by Bury council. At the heart of the issue is that no one actually seems to own the road.
Residents' boundaries end at front gardens
Residents say their boundaries extend to the end of their front gardens, leaving the majority of the stretch outside of their control. Bury council says the land is unadopted and they have no power to act on concerns.
But there are vulnerable people living in the road, and loved ones fear that the potholes present an active danger. Among the residents is 74-year-old Sue Tomlinson, who suffers from dementia and has been given limited time left to live.
Daughter fears for mother's safety
Her daughter, Carran Parkhouse, said: "Walking is quite difficult for mum and if she does need to leave to go to the shops or anything like that, we've got to go past all of that. It's quite dangerous.
"With dementia you lose part of your peripheral vision. We just hope that mum doesn't fall.
"Someone has fallen before, badly. Full on black eyes and into the puddle face first."
When the road is clear, Ms Parkhouse said, she can just about get her mum past the craters in her wheelchair. But cars and vans use the area to park, further limiting space. She added: "What's scary is, if we had to call for an ambulance, [...] they wouldn't be able to get her out on a stretcher."
Ms Parkhouse also raised concerns about the streetlights, saying she has previously had to replace the bulb in the one outside her mum's home because it was not being maintained. It is currently not working, she added. The thought of her mum leaving the house in the dark adds to her worries, she said.
Residents say road has got 'worse and worse'
A second resident, who asked to remain anonymous, said she and her husband have lived in the road for around 30 years and it has just got 'worse and worse'. She added: "When I first moved in here, there were older people that lived here, so there weren't many cars coming around to cause wear and tear.
"And I suppose the weather's changed, we have more wet weather as the years have gone on, so that's probably not made it any better. We have to just drive around really carefully.
"It'd be nice if they could just put some sort of drainage in then just tarmac it. [One of my neighbours] tried for years and years to get it sorted, but it gets to the point where you think 'What's the point?'"
Local Reform UK ward councillor Shadman Zaman has also been trying to get a resolution for residents, but the council again said they could not help because the road is unadopted. He said the street has been 'ignored for too long'.
Councillor says street 'ignored for too long'
Coun Zaman added: "This has been going on for two to three decades. It cannot happen anymore. We need to do something about it.
"Residents, including disabled and frail residents, live on this road, and the fact that they cannot have access to a proper street is a disgrace in the 21st century. It won't cost much [to adopt the road], so I hope the council takes the sensible decision that benefits its residents.
"At the end of the day, the council is not a business, it's a service. It took me a fight to even get a sign up, which will be up there by the end of November, just to say this is a road, so that cars give way.
"It cannot go on. Three decades is too long."
Ms Parkhouse said residents had looked at adopting the road themselves, but they believe the cost would come to at least £20,000 with more money then needed for the repairs. Even split between different households, this is not something those living in the street can afford, she said.
Ultimately, they want to see their street adopted by the council. While the price is prohibitive for them, they believe it is something that the local authority could afford to do. Ms Parkhouse continued: "The council, in my opinion, just never speaks to you about anything and avoids as much as possible [but] it is a street that does need to be adopted. In the scheme of things, is it that difficult?"
A council spokesperson said: "It can be a difficult situation where property owners live on unadopted roads, but this should have been part of the process explained to them when they were buying their home. Park Terrace is an unadopted road which means its maintenance is the responsibility of the landowner and isn't maintained by the council from public funds.
"If residents believe the land is unregistered, they may wish to check their property deeds, as ownership of the land on which the street is situated can sometimes rest with one or more adjoining property owners."
