THERE’S certain words you’ll never hear in Skem, such as “traffic jam” or “red light”.

After all, the unique way the town was planned ensures that cars are able to flow freely, something our neighbours in Ormskirk and Wigan can only dream of.

But there’s also another word which you’ll never hear in Skem ... and that’s “shortcut”.

Yep, for all the benefits of our gridlock-free town, there’s still some parts where, quite frankly, it’s quicker to walk.

I touched on this last week in the article about the Sandy Lane staircase ensuring a 10-yard walk turns into a one-mile car journey.

To prove this isn’t just a one-off, I conducted a little test this week by picking five random points across town to see whether it was quicker to walk.

The results were astounding, and proved my theory that if you want to get anywhere quick in Skem you’re better off with Shanks’s pony.

And the burning question is – what was the reasoning behind it?

Like most Skem quirks, I traced it back to the 1960s and Skelmersdale Development Corporation.

At that time, there was a big push to keep traffic and people as far apart as possible. Fatalities in places such as Liverpool meant that people coming into the New Town would see this as an attraction.

The creation of the main outer roads; Stannanought, Houghtons, Glenburn, Neverstitch, and Railway, coupled with the smaller, more local carriageways such as Digmoor Road, Northway, South and Tanhouse Road, meant these routes had no houses on them but were far enough away from the estates they served.

It wasn’t so much of a problem in Digmoor, Tanhouse, Birch Green and Ashurst, which were rural pastures prior to the 60s, but in Old Skem and Holland Moor, it meant blocking some roads off and in some cases curtailing them,

Those affected included Field Street, Old Skem, which banned traffic completely, and Spencers Lane in Tawd Bridge, which was actually cut in half with the rest of the road being given over for the then new Abbeystead development.

But more than 40 years on, haven’t people got used to it yet? Well, locals maybe but even now there’s some who couldn’t tell you how to get from one end of Tanhouse to the other. Also, there’s now more and more people visiting Skem who are utterly baffled by the road system.

But surely it’s safer?

Not so, says Margaret Highton, from Cornbrook, a passionate campaigner for road safety: “I think it gives people a false sense of security. Also, you’ve got people walking along the roads. It upsets me when I see school kids do it because they walk in groups, not single file and it’s dangerous.

“But then again there’s no footpaths. I walk along the roads when visiting my daughter in Tanhouse because I won’t go in the subways. I take a chance and hop onto the grass verge when cars come along. Subways aren’t the safest places to go because they flood and they’re dark.”

It makes you wonder whether the 1960s ideals are really compatible with 2007 and the need to cut fuel consumption.

Perhaps one day in light of that we’ll get a more direct road system. Until then, prepare to be driven around the bend – literally!

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