GMSF: have your say and support a station for Cheadle

by Lib Dem team on 14 January, 2019

The Greater Manchester Spatial Framework (GMSF) is open for comments, so please take a look and have your say.

The Lib Dem team are asking all residents to please write in your support for a new train station for Cheadle. You can also support the longer-term goal of a new Gatley North tram/train stop on the same line.

The best place to make your comments is section 10 – A Connected Greater Manchester – question 68 (in the text box) or question 73 (policies and overall approach).

It’s very important that we show how much Cheadle needs a new train station, not only so local residents can go to other places on the train, but also so the thousands of people who work in Cheadle can get here by train so they don’t need to drive in and park on residential roads!

   16 Comments

16 Responses

  1. Carol Sperring says:

    Are there any workshops around the document – it’s important but I’ve sat down to read it twice now on my mobile as I don’t have a pc and it just a bit over facing over a weekend after reading so much at work – I know there’s an overview but even that looks huge!

  2. Alf says:

    I really don’t know why there is any need to wait for a train/tram, especially since the two year trial in Sheffield only got underway late last year.

    When Workington lost its railway station in 2009 Network Rail were happy to report on the following Tuesday that they would have a temporary two platform station with lighting and car park ready at the weekend.

    Given the Altrincham/ Stockport line has passenger trains on it now and is little used then why can’t the necessary timetable changes be made so that we get a rail link? The tram can follow at any time.

    • Iain Roberts says:

      Hi Alf – you’re right. We’re not waiting for Train/tram (which seems to be taking an interminable time to arrive) but working to get a Cheadle rail station built as soon as possible, which could be used for train/tram at a later date.

  3. robert cohen says:

    Brilliant idea! Would take some of the traffic/congestion off the roads. The lack of funding for transport/roads up here is dreadful. Hang on, though. HS2 is just around the corner, shaving all of 20 minutes off a 2 hour journey to London! if that was scrapped the billions could be diverted to do some real good for transport!

    • Iain Roberts says:

      The HS2 issue is a bit more complex than that. The main reason for HS2 is capacity, not time. If you don’t have HS2, you still need to find some way to increase capacity on the West Coast Main Line. That’s doable – and probably cheaper than HS2 – but would cause a lot more disruption to daily journeys.

      But we desperately need improved public transport options around Greater Manchester and better links between the northern cities in addition to improving the north/south links (whether by HS2 or some other means).

  4. Les Leckie says:

    A bus doing a circular route from where the station is to be located to include East Didsbury Metrolink station should be introduced now. Minimal infrastructure costs would be incurred. I would use it regularly and leave my car at home.

    • John says:

      Agreed Les. It is now impossible to get a parking space at Didsbury after 9am. A bus from Cheadle would encourage at lot of us to leave the car at home.

    • Iain Roberts says:

      We would love to see a circular bus. No bus company has been willing to put it on so far, but we’ll keep on pushing.

    • janet mcleod says:

      You,ve got to be joking. You,ll be waiting forever for that just like this train station. They,re reducing buses here in Cheadle all the time. The 130 bus doesnt even go past Parrs wood anymore. You cant even get to Manchester after 6.30pm. And if you,re in town after 6.30pm you arent getting home. Ive been waiting in hope for this train station now for a few years and they,re still debating it. I doubt it will happen in my lifetime. And yes I do sound negative but Im just being realistic.

  5. Alan says:

    We have the train line and the train and the space for a station. We just need the political will to get it done. Could be open by the end of this year.

  6. JB says:

    Absolutely Alan! If only there was a will (in all quarters) to get on with it!

  7. JB says:

    I agree that the reopening of Cheadle railway station should be a top priority requiring the least disruption in the short term using existing trains and track.

    The tram plan would provide no benefit for the reasons quoted many times before on this website and in my view, should be dropped. In any case, a stop at Gatley North (wherever that is) would not be in the least convenient for most Gatley residents. Far better to re-instate Gatley/ Northenden railway station which would benefit residents in the western area of Gatley – presently remote from any station. Residents in the ‘Gatley North’ area already have a railway station to Manchester on the Styal line.

    I wholly agree that the vanity High Speed 2 project should be scrapped. Saving lives by increased funding of the NHS is far more important than saving a few minutes on journeys from London to Birmingham, etc., as is increased funding for the Police to fight crime, the Fire Service, Education and other social services. The extra capacity required could be provided by reinstating the services to St Pancras (only a few miles of track to replace in the Peak District) and Marylebone via Woodhead and Sheffield, etc. These routes were closed in the late 1960s to divert traffic onto the newly electrified line to Euston.

    Reintroducing the train service from Manchester/Stockport to St Pancras via the Dore curve in immediately pre-Pendolino days would be a fairly simple start, thus restoring the direct link to Derby and Leicester, etc., instead of the lengthy one with changes necessary at present.

    Even if HS2 were to reach Crewe, it seems a nonsense to build yet another line from Crewe to Manchester and its airport when a perfectly good direct line already exists. Together with the incredibly costly proposal to bore a tunnel 7.5 miles from Northenden to Ardwick/Piccadilly seems to me to be a gross misuse of limited funding which could be far better spent on reopening local lines in the North.

    I believe that a change in priorities is required at the highest level.

  8. Roy says:

    Iain
    Why aren’t the bus companies forced to send every 3rd or 4th bus which arrive and stop at the Parr’s Wood terminal straight up Kingsway turning left through Cheadle village and back down Manchester before continuing the existing route back into Manchester, this would mean 1 in 3 buses would do a round trip from Manchester with the driver taking his break when required in Manchester.
    Doing this would provide a direct regular bus route both to the Metro and Manchester, and I’m sure would help to reduce congestion especially at the Parr’s Wood terminal where buses can be seen regularly queuing to park up .

  9. Estelle Weiner says:

    Iain, that route would benefit residents at Barnes Village, bringing them into Cheadle village without their cars. Or to the metro & Stockport.

  10. Howard Bradshaw says:

    I suggest that comments about HS2 on a blog about the re-opening of a station in Cheadle Village only serve to muddy the waters: the purpose of HS2 is simply to REMOVE most or all of the express trains from London to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Scotland which currently use the West Coast Line – so that the line may accommodate more local and freight services. It’s about increasing capacity on existing lines, and not about increasing the journey time between London and all points north. In short, HS2 is irrelevant to the discussion on this blog: if HS2 were scrapped tomorrow, I doubt if anyone could sensibly argue that a station in Cheadle Village would be a priority for the funds released by the scrapping of HS2.

    I put up this issue for discussion: given that the proposed station would be on the Manchester to Chester via Stockport service which has currently only an hourly service, what reduction in car use might reasonably be achieved? Put another way, what might attract those car users who reject the bus option, to go for the train option. I guess I’m really making this submission: lobby first for the reinstatement of a double track between Stockport and Altrincham [to increase the service frequency of the Manchester to Chester, or a new Manchester to Altrincham service] and present a business case as to how this might potentially make more viable a station at Cheadle Village.

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