Cheadle and Gatley Lib Dems are moving
Graham, Tom and Ian
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What were the local issues four decades ago?
Cheadle and Gatley Lib Dems are moving
Cheadle and Gatley Lib Dems are moving
What were the local issues four decades ago?
Cheadle and Gatley Lib Dems are moving
Mark Hunter campaigns for Metrolink to Cheadle and Gatley
by Lib Dem team on 21 January, 2015
Cheadle’s Lib Dem MP Mark Hunter has thrown his weight behind a campaign for a new Metrolink line for Cheadle and Gatley.
The proposed line would be an orbital route running from Reddish through the Heatons into Stockport and then out through Edgeley, Cheadle Heath, Cheadle, Gatley and Baguley. It would give residents in Cheadle and Gatley local tram stops.
Proposals for new Metrolink lines
Using tram-train technology that allows trams to run on existing heavy rail lines, the route would run along the Stockport-Altrincham-Chester line for much of the distance – reducing the cost by minimising the amount of new track that has to be laid.
Graham Greenhalgh, Lib Dem Council candidate for Cheadle and Gatley, said “It’s fifty years since the people of Cheadle last had their own railway station and the need is greater than ever. With our roads getting busier, a high-quality tram link to Stockport, Manchester and Manchester Airport will make a big difference to local residents.”
Cheadle MP Mark Hunter said “These proposals, backed by Stockport Council and TfGM, are a major step forward and there’s now a real opportunity to have trams running on the new line in a decade or less. We have a solid economic case, but there is still a lot of work to do. We have to show that this has strong community support and a good business case if we’re going to get the funding to get this on the ground.”
The proposals come in a rail study for Stockport, published jointly by Stockport Council and Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM). The study was initiated last year by Cllr Iain Roberts and, in addition to a new orbital tram route from Reddish through Cheadle and Gatley to Manchester Airport, also proposes introducing a tram service on the Marple-Manchester line, extending the East Didsbury Metrolink line into Stockport and through to Hazel Grove, improving our stations (especially Stockport Station) and dealing with the challenges HS2 will bring.
“Stockport is setting out its priorities for train and tram.” Iain said. “We now have a set of coherent proposals that stack up economically and will have massive benefits not just for our area but right across south Manchester. The next step is to develop each of these proposals in more detail, consulting fully, to make this happen.”
33 Comments
East Didsbury – Stockport + Ashburys – Marple AND Stockport (via an unused link through Brinnington) makes sense.
Stockport – Altrincham though methinks not.
Either way, stop talking, start traming !
Tram lines all the way to cheadle, fantastic yes please
Love the trams would be great!
The tramlines through to cheadle would be fab we’ve got nothing in cheadle at all we have to get a bus to get to trams and trains etc hope it happens
That East Manchester route can lead into Manchester Victoria. There used to be a direct service from Stockport to Victoria in the early post war years. It was revived for a few weeks while major changes to track and signalling required the closure of Stockport to Piccadilly some 15 -20 years back. It was very popular, and old timers who had used it previously remembered just how useful it was for quick access to the really interesting parts of Manchester, i.e. Cross St., King Street, St Ann’s Square and Deansgate. A journey to Piccadilly usually requires onward transport through the city whereas Victoria is so convenient.
A station in Central Cheadle has the potential to reduce local congestion. The Alexandra Hospital is short of parking space yet both staff and patients could so easily access the site by rail. Stations adjacent to hospitals are always popular and well patronised, for example the “University” station in Birmingham serves both the University and Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
Very laudable ambition, but for a giant fraction of the cost just resurrect the old Cheadle Village station, giving a 5 main journey time to Stockport, 15 mins to Man Picc. Using tram-train to re-connect Bredbury, Romiley and Marple to Stockport town centre makes huge sense, extant disused alignment almost all the way.
Due to infrastructure and capacity constraints, never going to get a tram-train from Cheadle/Stockport into Piccadilly.
Where would the stop be in Gatley? Presumably at the bottom of Pendlebury Road. One would assume that this would increase traffic in that particular vicinity. Where would the Cheadle stop be?
This is not going to happen – remember the proposed railway station at Cheadle (I seem to remember that headline from one Of Mark Hunter’s leaflets just before the last election.
Public transport from Gatley is really difficult if you have mobility problems. The only route from the tram at East Didsbury is an infrequent train service or two buses to Cheadle and then to Gatley. There is also no proper bus service from Gatley to Manchester, leaving the aforementioned infrequent train service or going via Cheadle as the main options. Access to the stations is harder than to the Metrolink East Didsbury tram with long uphill ramps or stairs. It is so frustrating to have seen all the new tramlines bypassing Cheadle and Gatley.
Hi Bruce – no decisions have been made about the location of tram stops – I’d guess the bottom of Pendlebury or Belmont, or possible along Saville.
Glad you remember that Mark has been campaigning for this for some time – despite being told it was never going to happen, Mark and the team have kept at it and made real progress – more to come, I hope.
Yes please -trams in Cheadle and Gatley could ease traffic congestion here
Carolyn – there is a bus service from Gatley to Manchester – the 44.
Iain – this tram would cost a fortune but is the demand there? Same with the train station.
That’s the debate, Bruce. There’s a need for an orbital route to get people to and from Manchester Airport and the surrounding area. The studies that have been done say that a bus won’t work – too slow, not economic, not enough people will use it. The experience with Metrolink so far suggests it will do better.
44 bus is pretty slow – takes forever, and infrequent.
On the Stockport – Altrincham line, the tram-train proposal would be an expensive, complicated and long term proposal. Simple platforms with shelters, access and lighting at former station sites primarily at Cheadle, Gatley/ Northenden, and Baguley (with the possibility of further stops at Cheadle Heath, Southmoor Rd and Timperley) could be provided at nominal cost so that the existing train services could stop there! Network Rail must have some generic specifications for such ‘halts’ against which contractors could quote in a matter of weeks and construction be completed in a few months. This issue seems to have dragged on for a long time now. What’s the problem?
Hi jb. The problem is that we’ve been pressing the case for that for several years and the answer has always been that the economic case doesn’t stack up: there are other transport projects where they could spend the same or less money and get a better return on the investment in economic growth. There’s a limited pot of money and it’s allocated on the basis of which projects have the strongest business case. If we want to get the improvements, we have to tick those boxes.
So should a petition be organised to show breadth of support?
Hi jb – Mark Hunter has set up a petition here http://markhunter.org.uk/en/petition/new-metrolink-line-for-cheadle-and-gatley – he was out on Saturday collecting signatures in Cheadle High Street.
Iain,
My vote is to simply re-open the Cheadle and Gatley/Northenden stations along with some others on the Stockport to Altrincham line. This should not cost a fortune.
I feel that instead of supporting the unpopular and phenominally expensive HS2 proposal we should be looking at reversing some of the Beeching cuts.
To ease any congestion on the WCML, I would strongly support the introduction of a competing East Midlands service from Manchester/Stockport to St Pancras where interchange to Thameslink and Southern destinations is now available. Don’t forget that the present congestion on the WCML was due to the closure of the St Pancras and Marylebone services in the first place.
Hi Ian:
TRAM service south of M60, is excellent idea;
from Stockport to Wythenshaw University Hospital
[…] news that pressure and campaigning from Mark Hunter and the Lib Dem team had resulted in a landmark Rail Strategy report for Stockport, recommending a new Metrolink line including stops at Cheadle and Gatley – 61 years after […]
This is a great idea. Gatley connected to 90+ stations by tram – yes please! Wow.
No doubt people will raise parking problem issues; and that would have to be satisfied. I would use my car a lot less if Gatley was connected. For the people in Cheadle it must sound like heaven. Mark – please keep this going forward.
[…] Local MP Mark Hunter and the Lib Dem team are working to build support for a new Metrolink service to Cheadle and Gatley. […]
Tram and/or train stations with parking will mean more, not less, traffic through the centres of Cheadle and Gatley simply because the railway line is north of the villages. In any case, this project is still several years away. We need and I believe are entitled to improved ‘bus services now. In the 1960s, Gatley was served by regular direct to Manchester ‘buses 161 and 162. The 44 goes all around Millgate Lane and via Fairmile Drive in East Didsbury – unless the driver forgets. The stop outside Parrs Wood cinema is often skipped too. It’s a long, convoluted journey on a small, uncomfortable vehicle, necessarily so in order to negotiate narrow residential streets with vehicles parked on both sides. There is no evening service either since the subsidy was cut. The 11 ‘bus that connects Stockport, Cheadle and Gatley to Altrincham via Wythenshawe Hospital also wanders around the Wythenshawe estate, which while increasing patronage and performing a useful service for its residents, means a journey that takes fifteen minutes by car off-peak extends to 45 minutes by public transport.
Additional tram routes are a wonderful idea, but are a long way off and very expensive. Whether or not these tram plans reach fruition, we require better ‘bus services, which could be implemented much more quickly and crucially at comparatively little cost.
Re the 44 bus service – this is so limited as to be virtually useless
I approve – any measure to reduce road traffic and its accompanying air & noise pollution. Also the walk to the Station should help with health and obesity – even a few tens of yards is beneficial rather than a few feet to the car!
In theory I would love some form of improvement to the public transport in the Gatley / Cheadle area. I would love to have a regular four trains per hour from Gatley to Manchester for a start. Ticket machines at Gatley train station would also be a plus, especially south bound.
For the circle type line to happen we need to make the business case work. As this is unchartered territory maybe we can test the water first. A bus replacement serving only towns / major stops along the route. This would not be as efficient as a train /tram but could test the desire for further investment. How much does it cost to build basic stations along the route and use trains? (Trams would only be needed for an extension where no current train lines exist).
My big issue is the cost of fares. To make the business case work you need high fares to generate the return, I get this to a point. However, I am always going to have my car, so the incremental commuting cost means in the majority of cases cheaper to travel by car meaning I am unlikely to travel unless the fare is cheap, service reliable and goes to places I want to go to.
However, I come back to the business case. I am sure for the decision to get the go ahead some form of investment appraisal such as net present value (npv) analysis, where you will look for a positive npv for projects to get the green light. You only have to look at history to see a list of projects given the no go on business case grounds only to see the same issues appear time and time again. The link between man picc and Victoria being a good example. What I mean by this is, sometimes decisions are quite short sighted.
Travis Perkins in cheadle closes this year, perfect place for further parking and a stop on the Stockport to Altrincham line. No back hand deals like the tesco local please mark for some ugly town houses and let’s have some action rather than talk.
We’re keeping an eye on TP. No idea what you’re referring to re: Tesco but the TP site has the potential to be useful.
No station needed, just a stop, cheap cheap cheap, come on mark, would win you the cheadle vote
I’m afraid the system doesn’t allow us just to add a cheap stop on the line. Mark and the team are doing everything we can to make this happen, knowing that nothing happens very quickly when it comes to rail. For example, even if we could persuade someone to build a stop, we’d still have to persuade the train operating company to stop there.
Thank you for the feedback, not cheap, but cheaper then rebuilding a station. Happy to hear you guys are on it though and let’s hope that the tp site doesn’t fall into the wrong hands, that site could cure the parking issue and the train issue all in one. As for the tesco thing, that wasn’t aimed at mark, sorry, though everyone is aware that it was due to be a mands till something happen and a tesco suddenly appeared. Thank you again for the feedback and with your sharpness you may have just earned some more cheadle votes, good luck
Absolutely, there should be a metro link through gatley and cheadle , linking to airport, airport city, didsbury and manchester city centre. It would assist greatly with the traffic congestion in cheadle and gatley and bring people and investment to the area.
You echo my comments of two years ago that the line through Bramhall Moor to Hazel Grove Midland, still there for freight, would pass through lots of residential areas and take away traffic from the A6. More important though is access to Stockport. What a disgrace it was to abandon the CLC line to Tiviot Dale.
Cheadle CLC station closed in 1964 but only ever had 5 trains a day to Liverpool Central. Well out of Cheadle. Cheadle LNW is the village station. That closed in 1917! Wartime economy. Not Beeching.