Cheadle and Gatley Lib Dems are moving
Your Lib Dem team for Cheadle West & Gatley Learn more
by Lib Dem team on 2 November, 2012
Modelling of the traffic flows around Stockport suggest that the planned A6 to Manchester Airport Relief Road will significantly reduce traffic through Cheadle and Gatley villages.
The figures from the modelling, which will be published on the SEMMMS website shortly and be available at all the public exhibitions, show that traffic through the centre of Cheadle – along the High Street and Gatley Road, will be quite a lot lower with the relief road than without out.
The new road is predicted to cut traffic (compared to what it would be if we didn’t build the road) on most of the residential roads with Heald Green and Bramhall also seeing quite significant benefits.
The A34 (Kingsway) will be relatively unaffected by the new road – the section past Cheadle and Gatley is forecast to have traffic around one percent higher than would be the case without the road.
Some places are currently forecast to have increased traffic as a result of the road and part of the project will be to look at mitigation for these. The two main ones are Gillbent Road in Cheadle Hulme and the High Lane area.
16 Comments
Is this the best we can do after all these years. Do we really believe this will benefit Cheadle & Gatley – and Heald Green, yet 1% more on Kingsway !
Is this worth all this money ?
Hi John,
The evidence we have (and a lot of work has been done collecting it) is that the new road will take traffic away from local roads right across the area.
Perhaps more importantly, it will also create new jobs – it’s estimated that up to 5,000 new jobs will be created by the road (that’s in addition to the people actually working on building the road).
Transport infrastructure is expensive, but this scheme has one of the best benefits-to-cost ratios of any in the country: for every pound we spend on it, several pounds will be created in the economy.
So I would say that it is worth the money.
Iain, this is your post from last week where you suggested that the official report would disprove my assertion that traffic would increase. Now your own report models a 1% increase, which you suggest leaves us relatively unaffected! Well it may well leave Gatley residents unaffected but it will certainly affect Cheadle.
Personally I think 1% is an underestimation as people from the south of Stockport will use the A34 / SEMMMS to get to the airport.
Alan – I appreciate your views. If you have evidence on traffic flows that shows an increase in traffic through Cheadle is likely, please do pass it on. We have the official data collection that’s been done over several years, but very happy to look at additional data.
Hi Alan,
You’re comment last week was that you were concerned it would increase traffic in Cheadle. I’ve double-checked and all the routes through Cheadle will see significant reductions in traffic (compared to not building the road).
Kingsway will see little difference whether or not the road is built or not, with a 1% increase predicted.
At last. It’s a disgrace it’s taken so long but I agree the positives out way the negatives. Anything that reduces the traffic through Cheadle is a benefit. 1% more on a two lane road is better than not building it and having more and more traffic squeezing its way through the village.
What about the Relief Road from the A34, which has been promised and cancelled so many times. This is the only link that will cut traffic through Cheadle. Of course, it was the A34 by-pass which caused the problem in the first place. It was just greed all round, to the detriment of local residents.
hi,what about hazel grove,poynton and other surrounding areas,surely the traffic will increase?
how can traffic improve making a dual carriageway end onto a already busy one lane a6 and a set of traffic lights thrown in for good measure?
wasnt the figures that stockport council claiming done years ago when this was the full bypass all the way to bredbury and not stopping in hazel grove, an already congested area?
Hi Glen,
At the moment, the A6 through Hazel Grove is the main route out for quite a large area. A lot of that traffic will be diverted onto the new bypass and won’t need to go through Hazel Grove at all.
hi thanks for replying back,i appreciatte that but wont the fact that if its a route out that it will attract more traffic to the area to get onto it plus dont forget the traffic coming the other way into hazel grove,high lane and poynton etc?
wasnt it admitted recently by macc council that they think it probably will cause more traffic in poynton and wasnt the surveys that was carried out years ago based on the full bypass going ahead which i agree may have helped but this is certain to cause more traffic in certain areas, i live not far from where it ends in hazel grove and i dont know if youve seen the a6 near simpsons bend when they have temp traffic lights due to roadworks etc, it backlogs for miles! now imagine having anouther juntion with a dual carriageway joining the a6 not carrying on to bredbury like it should have to make it worthwhile, it just wont work!
there needs to be a new survey based on half the bypass going ahead and also the affect of the schools it passes right next too and also an investigation as to why its aloud to go through a protected woodland?
Hi Glen,
The traffic modelling that’s been done is for the bypass as currently being proposed: A6 to Manchester Airport. The traffic surveys that have been done have also been based on the current proposed route, not including any possible future section joining up to the M60.
The issue of the woodland (and the host of other environmental issues we quite rightly consider) has been taken into account and the environmental assessment is online at http://www.semmms.info/a6/environmentalassessment/ (there’s a lot of it, I’m afraid, because we have to do a thorough job).
Glen is quite right, traffic in Poynton and Hazel Grove will increase and a 23% increase is predicted on th A34.
Figures suggesting what traffic levels would be without the road can be ignored. They are nothing more that guess work and way off target. Traffic levels have been falling for five years and the methods currently used have been brought into serious doubt by experts, who have called for an urgent review. Any congestion relief achieved will be very short lived as the new and existing roads fill up. And you can add to that induced journeys and traffic from the large scale developments that WILL follow.
This road will be a disaster for the entire area.
Hi Iain
Please can you explain how the figures are arrived at that building this road creates 5000 jobs over and above construction. You seem very confident about it being worth the money so can you share your information with us so we can feel the same way?
Yes, of course. There’s a standard national method used to calculate how many jobs will be created by a project like this – it’s used because it’s been refined and tested against reality on many previous projects across the country so we’ve got a high degree of confidence that it’s accurate to the extent that it claims to be.
Essentially it tells you, for every pound you put into the project, how many pounds you generate in wider economic benefit and estimates how many new jobs are created as a result.
This scheme has one of the best cost to benefit ratios of any in the country based on that formula.
The full business case, with all the details, will be on the semmms website shortly for anyone who wants to delve into the innards of these things.
Thank you and you can be confident that an awful lot of people “will want to delve into the innards of these things” It is, after all, our money you’re spending, just incase you forgot there for a moment.. And how many of these jobs will be created in Wythenshawe, Iain? I recollect George Osbourne was very clear that his plans for developing the airport were about regenerating the immediate surrounding it. An area that he termed “deprived” and whose residents would be therefore be making use of the new metrolink extension and other public transport links. Not a lot of people from Cheshire and beyond driving along a dual carriageway in their shiny BMW’s, or am I misinterpreting the meaning of “sustainability”. Perhaps that too will be explained to me shortly on the SEMMMS website..?
Hi Julie,
I welcome people looking at the details – that’s why we’re getting everything we can published on the website as soon as its ready, not to mention having a full round of public consultation.
As you might guess, the relief road itself has a minimal impact onjobs in Wythenshawe (many others will, as a result of Airport City and Metrolink). The road allows people who aren’t already near the airport – mainly in Stockport, Cheshire and Derbyshire – to access the airport and wider areas much more quickly and easily.
All the evidence we have shows that this road is an excellent investment for the taxpayer, generating far more money that it will cost.
We live in Timperley and getting anywhere is a nightmare. We are getting so fed up with the roadworks and cannot believe they are going on til 2015!!! We were told that unless we vote for the tram we will not get it – we did not vote (along with loads of others) cos we did not want it but our opinions and those have others have been totally disgregarded. Job prospects in the area have not improved, many trees have been destroyed and it is costing car drivers more in terms of time and money for getting from A to B. What would the council say if we asked them to contribute towards these expenses? It is getting so bad we are thinking of moving away but why should we? We are entitled under the freedom of information act to know the names of the people who agreed for this ridiculas plan to go ahead (we want names, the exact costs and the details of the so called research into the costings, feasability etc to be disclosed). But, I bet they won’t. What will the cost of the journeys be? tram fares are expensive now. It is crazy to think most people could afford them – surely they would own a car if they could afford it rather than take the tram. Most of the tramlines are going through areas containing council rented properties with tenants having no rights because they don’t own the properties – it is disgraceful. In a time when the country is on it’s knees the council just goes ahead and spends our hard earned cash without giving us any say in the matter whatsoever. As you can see I am totally naffed off with the lot of you and feel I speak for lots of other people. Print this if you dare and can take critism.