The tourist hotspot has faced parking mayhem in recent years
The car park descended into chaos on Saturday March 21(Image: Helen Bishop)
Car parks at Dovestones descended into traffic chaos on Saturday (March 21) as huge crowds flocked to the beauty spot. As the sun came out, temperatures hit 17C across the region, prompting swathes of visitors to head to the area in Saddleworth Moor.
But locals have been left ‘trapped in their homes’ with the area ‘spoilt by very ignorant visitors’ over recent years. The same occurred again on Saturday, with the area becoming ‘rammed’ and pictures showing long queues for the car park and roads in complete gridlock.
The Manchester Evening News has regularly reported on issues at the tourist hotspot in recent years, which involved traffic mayhem and fire crews issuing repeated warnings after being called out to illegal barbeque incidents causing havoc on hot days. Parking warnings have also been issued in the past in a bid to stop the problem.
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Pictures were later shared online by councillor Helen Bishop in a bid to raise awareness about issues in the area, describing it as ‘rammed’, and adding that car park marshals ‘struggled to maintain control’. The fire service were also called out after smoke was spotted billowing nearby.
The Saddleworth South councillor wrote: “First decent day and Dovestones was rammed. The Marshalls seemed to have struggled to maintain control of the parking and access situation, which I shall follow up on, but I also happened upon a couple of barbecues which were duly reported and extinguished.
“It turned out to be a good job the fire crew turned up as smoke was seen rising up from behind the trees near the brook, which they then went to investigate. Next Saturday there will be a multi agency information day aimed at educating visitors about the countryside code. Looks like it can’t come soon enough.”
Queues to enter the car park (Image: Helen Bishop)
Coun Bishop the Manchester Evening News that locals are now becoming ‘locked in their homes’ due to traffic chaos, with emergency crews ‘struggling to gain access’ to the area due to inconsiderate parking and traffic clogging up the local roads.
One person responded: “I don’t go to Dovestones anymore because it has been spoilt by a number of very ignorant visitors who simply don’t care, or respect the area or the villagers who live here. I have no problem in people visiting this area providing they treat it and respect it accordingly.”
Another added: “Used to be such a peaceful place to go,” as a third said: “Used to live walking there.. now I avoided it .. such a shame.”
The Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service confirmed they were called to a ‘small fire’ near to Dovestone Reservoir at around 5pm on Saturday which was suspected to have been started by a barbecue found at the scene.
The fire service previously launched their ‘Be Moor Aware’ campaign in an effort to raise awareness and prevent moorland fires and wildfires by encouraging people to dispose of litter properly and stop the use of barbecues or any other fires.
In April last year, firefighters spent five hours at the scene of a huge blaze which broke out on an area of moorland near to the reservoir. The area affected by fire was larger than a football pitch, at 150 metres by 100 metres. That came just a month after an ‘ignorant’ couple were seen firing up a barbeque in the area.
Firefighters seen tackling the wildfire on Saddleworth Moor in June 2018(Image: PA)
And back in 2018, a major incident was declared after Saddleworth Moor became the scene of one of the largest wildfires ever seen in the UK, which raged on for a number of weeks throughout the summer. It scorched seven square miles and caused the evacuation of around 150 people.