Cheadle and Gatley Lib Dems are moving
Graham, Tom and Ian
Your Lib Dem team for Cheadle West & Gatley Learn more
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
Lib Dem campaign victory as A555 Relief Road funding announced
by Lib Dem team on 28 November, 2011
Local Lib Dems are celebrating the news that the long-campaigned-for A555 Relief Road is to go ahead, after Government funding was confirmed today.
The Relief Road will go from the M56/Manchester Airport across to the A6 just south of Hazel Grove. A middle section currently exists, between Bramhall and Heald Green. The economic case for the relief road is one of the strongest for any similar scheme in the country, with the road predicted to not only reduce traffic on local roads around the area, but also to cut traffic levels on the A34 and A6 and to bring economic benefits.
The new road will see 10km of dual carriageway built, and is forecast to contribute to the creation of 11,000 new jobs, bringing in £58m a year by 2021.
The next stage will be a public consultation followed by a planning application for the road.
Commenting, Cheadle MP Mark Hunter said:
“This is very good news indeed. It’s an exciting day for Cheadle and probably the best news Stockport has had for a long time.
“The next phase of the A555 Relief Road, between Manchester Airport where it will link with M56 and the A6, will transform the quality of life of many thousands of local people whose lives are currently blighted by far too much traffic on our residential roads.
“The news that the Coalition Government is to give the go ahead to this major infrastructure project is very welcome and follows many years of energetic campaigning. Even before I was the MP I have constantly sought to make the case for the relief road and I know many others have also given their support.
“People in Bramhall, Cheadle Hulme and Heald Green will all benefit directly from the scheme, but the completion of this vital road will have much wider effects across our area.”
“Local people, councillors, Stockport Council, Manchester Airport, the Chamber of Commerce, and of course my predecessor the late Patsy Calton have all been instrumental in this campaign from day one and I pay tribute to all their efforts.
“This is a real victory for all our community and a great day for all those who were beginning to doubt if they would ever see progress on this much needed scheme.”
The latest proposed route (as of the end of 2011) can be seen here.
40 Comments
Excellent news. Let’s hope that, as predicted, the new road will reduce the A34 traffic through Cheadle & Gatley.
Brilliant news… and oneself has never driven !
Hoping it will take some pressure off the local ‘orbital’ roads… for the sake of us bus passengers.
As one understands the timeline for this project…
early 1990’s – first ‘concrete’ proposals outlined,
mid 1990’s – Tory government sanctions construction ?,
late 1990’s – ‘Nu’Liebore government cancels construction ?,
early 2010’s – coalition government sanctions construction.
Imagine our surprise to learn from a Liebore (woman) politician the other night on the regional television news claiming this project to be one of their making ! – cheeky cow !
s.l.n.e.c local plae had the a6 link in it this was published
1965
cheshire regional plan published 1940 updated 1950’s had simler scheme in it
long wate for a6 hazel grove bypass
metrolink tram from didsbury should go to stockport or ashton.
lets hope it is built dont wate for it long wate if not built
i notice hazel grove not mentioned
would you morons like to see the impact this will have on my proporty that i have worked hard for for many years
see you in court for the maximum amount of compensation i can get out of you
the fumes and noise no doubt will not be a problem to you Mr Hunter ??
Geoff,
I’m very glad that Hazel Grove will benefit from a reduction in traffic along the A6, as mentioned above. My route to Buxton will miss out Hazel Grove completely when the road is completed.
Properties that are on the route will of course be dealt with according to the law to ensure proper compensation. Given how long this route has been around for and how many false starts we’ve had, I don’t think anyone can claim to have been taken by surprise!
Finally Great news 🙂
This road is long overdue, especially the A34 to airport link. Its a shame that the road is only sheduled to go as far as the A6 and not Bredbury/M60 as first planned. If this road had been built 15 years ago, Woodford may have still been open giving 5000+ jobs to us locals !!!
Bramhall, Poynton, Styal, Hazel Grove(A6) and Gatley are utter nightmares day-in, day-out … we need this road NOW!
Please get the diggers moved in and started before this joke of a government change their minds again!
… just another point …
Why do we need yet another consultation period and application (the 3rd one since 1990) ??? Isn’t that just going to increase the cost yet again? The locals know what is to be done, the data has already been gathered, the plans have already been approved once/twice !! ….. JUST GET ON WITH IT.
Hi Simon,
The funding we have from the Government is for the section from Manchester Airport to the A6. We still want to build the section to Bredbury/M60 and will continue to press for funding for that section.
On the consultation period, there isn’t currently any planning permission for the road so that needs to be applied for, along with the correct legal process to hear objections etc.
when will publice consultation start on the road plans i have never herd of the extention to m60 bredbry where dose this come from
people who buy houses along the rout should be told that there was a road planed or majore scheme planned when the statatery serches are done at the local authority .they should say wheter the scheme is extinct or going a head
the local authority should keep a record of where planing applications will afect a paticle area. aces to maps and minetus and local plans about planned work should be avaible from local council or local archive section of library or the local authority should say who is building it and you can get further details from them. when a planing application is made to goverment or local authority they keep a list of all document submited to them so that should help in geting documents about the scheme.
also any past inquiry decisions you should read to see what was said and the decision come to
Hi David,
The scheme being funded by the Government is for the A555 between Manchester Airport and the A6.
The original scheme, going back twenty years or more, was always for the A555 to continue past the A6 to meet the M60 at Bredbury.
It’s certainly no secret, though because nothing has progressed with that section in several years (nor is anything planned for in the next few years) it’s not received much publicity.
has the road past hazel grove to bredbury got planning aprovel yet
has that part of rout be safegarded from development
when will building work start
Nothing has planning approval yet, and the Hazel Grove to Bredbury probably won’t have in the near future. As I said before, there is no current funding for that section of the road, so no plans for building to start.
a5556 m56 to a6 hazel grove has that part of rout got planning permision yet when will consultation start on rout
construction when will thast start
Hi David,
As I’ve said in the original article, the next stage of the process is a public consultation and planning application for the Manchester Airport/M56 to Hazel Grove section.
If all goes well, we could see construction start in 2013.
Iain
can you advise where I might be able to access the last set of plans for the scheme which show the preferred route and the various junction/intersection details?
Thanks
Hi Steve,
I’ll track one down and post it online. The route goes from Ringway Road, has a crossroads with Styal Road (south of the Ringway Road junction), then goes south of Heald Green. On the Hazel Grove side it joins the A6 a little way south of the Rising Sun.
Iain,
can you tell me the exact route from the A6 side towards handforth etc.
i’m looking at buying a house on macclesfield road, (the last one before the field and brookside garden centre).
just need to know how close the road will be to this house.
thanks
Hi Darren,
The current route for the road takes it just north of the garden centre, I believe, so I guess the house will be very well connected.
ask the estate agent or ask the councile or see if the local archive at the library has plans of the road or details of planing aplications afecting you area
Excellent news after many years of stop go. Much more information including the route available on http://www.semmms.info/
Thanks Roger – I’ve now edited the original post to include a map of the relief road route from the A6 to Manchester Airport and the M56.
Seems good news on the face of it but maybe not for everyone. They always used to say that you never solve a traffic problem – all you do is move it elsewhere.
Also unintended consequences – for example the Handforth bypass has increased the traffic thru Gatley as a lot more traffic now turns right at the lights on the A34.
Hi Bruce,
You’re right that care needs to be taken. Of course, one of the benefits of the project having been around for so long is that numerous studies have been done to look at traffic movements and model the difference the road would make. The most recent was done across our area just a few months ago.
Having lived in Stockport for 42 years, I am well aware of the delaying tactics used by a small minority of the population to block sensible developements. I am not confident that the proposal to complete the A555 will evade blockage by the flat-earth brigade who will no doubt succeed in discovering a colony or two of rare wildlife whose only habitat in the Northern Hemisphere is on the route of the by-pass.
The country is in crisis and we should not waste time and money on extensive and costly enquiries. We managed to build airfields by the hundred in beautiful country areas in the late 1930s – if we had the will today, we could change the law nationally so that planning decisions could be fast-tracked as in the 1930s.
We and the local economy urgently need this road. Current austerity measures should aim to prioritise expenditure savings by concentrating on non-productive activities such as planning enquiries that should be drastically cost-limited. The resulting savings can be used to alleviate the damage being caused by cuts in other areas such as social care for the elderly, health care, policing, and taking youngsters out of the NEETs category. If the LibDems really are a radical and progressive force in politics, they should take the initiative in introducing policies such as this.
It’s good news that this is back on the agenda again after we thought it was reasy to go in ~2008. I have lived in Heald Green for 15 years and living just off Finney lane is like being imprisoned during the rush hours. We have had the public consultation with a chance to review the plans already (to which I replied for the slip road type junctions and elevation changes to keep the current local roads as local roads. Please make this a through route and don’t go ruining it and pandering to future development by putting in lots of roundabouts and cross-road junctions like was done with the A34. All this does is creates bottlenecks that push traffic back onto the local routes and eventually housing and retail developments get built to erode the capacity and put us all back to square one.
LIke you Lee, we also feel imprisoned in Cheadle – and this I suspect is not going to help us one bit. Far better to have had an INTEGRATED policy that would MAKE traffic avoid the A34 junction, so we can wait less than 20 minutes to turn onto the A34. Mark Hunter has been banging on about this as some sort of win for ages, but its noticeable that Cheadle is not mentioned in the list of places that will benefit. Still I suppose our votes are useful…
And yes I will be objecting.
Hi Alan,
The A555 Relief Road is part of the SEMMMS plan – South East Manchester Multi-Modal Scheme – an integrated policy that’s been around for over a decade and includes road schemes along with improvements to public transport, cycling and walking. A lot of SEMMMS has already been implemented, but this was always the biggest element.
We can’t, course, ban traffic from a major trunk road like the A34 – that would push traffic onto residential roads and that’s something I would strongly oppose.
The evidence we have is that the road will help Cheadle & Gatley – but of course as Mark Hunter says, the direct benefits will be to those places like Heald Green.
I guess we could have listed every single town and village in the area, but not sure I can see the point!
More houses means more local traffic! Government policies emphasize increasing house building. Their intention for more business development will also add more local traffic. The new road news is good but must not be allowed to excuse filling up green space as it did previously under a Conservative Government. In summary, more development will negate the advantages of the new road. I would expect arguments to appear about the parlous ecenomic state of the nation but as usual ignoring reformation of financial planning, control and its consequences and saying that free (uncontrolled) enterprise is paramount meaning quality of residents life must be further eroded for the profit of the few.
Iain I wasn’t suggesting we ban traffic from the A34 and I wasn’t suggesting that every local area be mentioned. My point (subtle obviously) was that here in Cheadle we get the distinct impression (on a regular basis) that, actually we don’t generate a lot of interest from politicians. The left turn at the A34 lights went in fairly quickly benefiting Gatley and then after months of prevaricating, we now know we can’t have a right turn from Cheadle because its too dangerous! Nothing has changed in the intervening period; its just like “oh tell ’em, its dangerous that’ll shut them up”. Now the A555 is to go ahead and probably we’ll end up with MORE traffic at the A34 as people find that its shorter to get to the airport than going all the way round Wythenshawe. So unless there was some mechanism of ensuring airport traffic DIDN’T use the A34 here, its probably going to get worse!
Hi Alan,
I’m glad we were able to get the left filter lane from Gatley a few years ago at the Kingsway junction. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been possible yet to improve the right turn from either Gatley or Cheadle due to safety issues on the junction and – more importantly – the knock-on effect to traffic going straight on, both on Kingsway and on Gatley Road.
However, as you’ll have seen from our regular reports, we are working for an improvement when the Highways Agency upgrade the slip road from the motorway onto Kingsway.
As for the A34 traffic – airport traffic is just one (relatively small) element. Overall, the traffic on the A34 should be reduced and – perhaps more importantly – the traffic on Gatley Road through Gatley and Cheadle should be reduced as well.
David – you’re right: all parties are in agreement that more housing is needed in this country. We have nearly five million people without a home and desperately need more houses.
In Stockport, we want most new homes to be in the town centre, with far more modest numbers in the villages like Cheadle and Gatley. We’ve no plans for any significant further development on the greenbelt.
It would have been nice if the Manchester Airport M56 to the A6 Hazel Grove A555 Link Road was a 3 lane motorway and the A6 Hazel Grove to M60 Bredbury as a 3 lane motorway because it would have took all the traffic of the A6 in Hazel Grove. I got a map of Manchester in 1962 sawing Manchester Airport – A6 Hazel Grove – M60 Bredbury sections all 3 lane motorways now that would have made more sense. It won’t be long that the A555 link road will be upgraded to a 3 lane motorway maybe after 10 years after the A555 Link Road is completed. Ohh I have got a another map of Manchester in 1945 showing the same route but leaving the M56 and heading towards Sale and the A34 planned as a 3 lane motorway.
[…] recently announced the success of the Lib Dem campaign to secure the A555 Relief Road extension from Manchester Airport to the A6 at Hazel […]
Mark Hunter I seen you on that photo before in 2008 when Labour were in power giving funding for the relief road on that same location and here you are now at the same location in 2011 when the coalition government giving funding for the relief road so if the relief road gets cancelled would you be there at the same place with your solutions sk clothes on showing the proposed map of the A555 Relief Road on that A555 terminus on Bramhall.
There’s is no work being done there I don’t see a bulldozer and diggers behind you starting on the bypass so you might as well get your solutions sk green jacket off and stay in the office and keep sharping your pencils and keep dreaming about that bypass because its going be on..off..on..off…on..off. I think you might be there in 50 years time at the same location and they still not done that bypass. I think you will be collcting your pension by then.
If it does get built that bypass. Watch it in 10 years time they will upgrade it to a 3 lane motorway WATCH THIS SPACE. The A34 was suppose to be a 3 lane motorway in 1945 from Gatley to Congleton. I was driving from Gatley to Cheadle on the A560 Gatley Road going across the A34 Kingsway and the road rises and then it just drops onto Gatley Road on the other side of the A34 was it suppose to go over the top of A34 Kingsway as a flyover and the A34 going underneath. On that old map in 1945 the A34 starts as a motorway on the river mersey just before the M56 and M60 sliproads M56 (E) sliproad towards Didsbury and using the exisiting A34 all the way to Congleton THAT WOULD HAVE MADE MORE SENSE.
A34(M) Anyone
What compensation will be paid to those
Who have a house about 150m away from the road?
Like Natalie i am this distance from the proposed road
Do these Mp’s care about the impact that the road will have on the value of out propery , our qualitiy of life , our health , our wellbeing
Natalie , i would suggest you appoint a solicitor to sue for compensation , blight etc –
Bad news is they will only pay out one year after the road is completed
But what about loss of value and the distruption we are going to get for the next 5 / 6 years whilst the planning and building goes on
This is whay we have to fight now that this road to no where ( which is what it is ) does not get built
Mike – as you live a distance from the road, you probably won’t be aware of this, but a huge amount of work is going on around everything from landscaping to having individual meetings with people directly affected along the route (where requested) to deal with exactly these sorts of issues.
Thank you
I have been invited to the forums and have attended