The return of a Grade II-listed monument is being 'paused' after its home was ploughed into by a driver for the second time in 15 months.
A car mounted the pavement and crashed into the Audenshaw Trough, in Tameside, in May 2020 - along with the cast iron transformer that sat behind it.
The Trough was replaced by a temporary monument last year, while the old Cornish stone monument was taken away for repairs.
Tameside Council says that repair work has now been completed.
But after another car crashed into the site on Saturday (August 21) and flattened the temporary sculpture, the council is delaying the Trough's return to consider whether any new measures could be installed to protect the monument.
A Tameside Council spokesperson said: “We’re very dismayed to see the site of the historic Grade II-listed Trough has once again been damaged by a road traffic incident.
"Thankfully this time it was only a temporary trough that was damaged but clearly there is a potential risk here for the future.
“We had repaired the original Cornish stone trough and were making the final arrangements for putting it back in place but, given the recent incident, we think it is wise to press pause on this to reflect and see what options we may have for measures to protect it going forward.”
The Trough had stood at the junction of Manchester Road and Audenshaw Road in the Fairfield area of Audenshaw since 1879.
According to Historic England, the polished Cornish granite trough was installed on behalf of Miss M. Ashworth in 1879 as a rest stop for cattle and horses, at a time they still commonly used the road.
The front of it carries the inscription 'the righteous man regardeth the life of his beast'.
In more recent times, locals have used it as a planter for flowers to brighten up the area with volunteers maintaining it.
In a furious Facebook post at the weekend, Coun Oliver Ryan warned 'there will be no Trough' if another crash happens at the monument, adding: "The roads seem to be a Wild West at the moment."
A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police said: "At around 4am on Saturday (August 21), police were called to reports of a collision on Audenshaw Road, Audenshaw.
"Enquiries established that a car had collided with a piece of street furniture.
"The driver - a 40-year-old man - was taken to hospital with minor injuries. He has since been discharged."
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