Manchester (Parliament News) – Mayor Andy Burnham endorses plans to bring Metrolink trams to Stockport and expand services to Middleton and Heywood. It confirmed an appraisal is complete and pending post-election publication.
Will Metrolink Trams Reach Stockport Soon?
Mayor Andy Burnham has endorsed plans are in place to bring Metrolink trams to Stockport and expand services to Middleton and Heywood. The mayor, conveying outside the new Stockport Interchange as shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves saw the town, confirmed that a previously-teased ‘appraisal’ has been conducted. It was set to be issued in early June but this has been hindered by the general election campaign, he also confirmed.
“That work is accomplished and we will be publishing that as soon as we can after the election,” he informed the Local Democracy Reporting Service. “It relates to how we will bring Metrolink to this position behind me, and our ambitions to go north with potentially a tram-train option conforming Atom Valley — Middleton, Heywood, Bury — and other schemes as well. We will bring that work forward very quickly.”
How Will Metrolink Expansion Affect Greater Manchester?
While both lines have been the topic of speculation, election promises from the Conservatives, and on the wishlist of Mr Burnham and his contemporaries for years, Friday witnessed the most concrete affirmation that they will be constructed. The Greater Manchester mayor also stated that he believed Labour would back his plans to construct a new railway line from Liverpool to Manchester, should the party win the election on July 4.
That was despite shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh briefing journalists at Manchester Airport on Thursday that ‘we are not going into this election pledging anything that we can’t commit to’, and did not engage specifically to the new Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) line between the two cities.
“We want to take a long-term strategy that encourages the private sector to invest and make sure that every penny that we expend of taxpayers’ money delivers the best return and delivers the best results for passengers across the North,” Ms Haigh stated. “But Northern rail connectivity and transport infrastructure will be the focus of the next Labour government.”
What Are Mayor Burnham’s Plans for Metrolink Extension?
Mr Burnham – who stated he did not even consider endeavouring to be selected for the general election race in Makerfield, near to his home and old constituency of Leigh – ‘acknowledges there is a promise having ‘spoken to Keir [Starmer] and Louise [Haigh] around it’.
“There is £17bn in the program,” he went on. “The thing I will be getting over to both of them is this new line will be connecting an investment zone in Liverpool city base via a big development in Warrington, Manchester Airport, and to another investment location in Manchester city centre.
“That £17bn is in the [Integrated Rail] project, with £12bn left in the program and £5bn allocated to the Liverpool end of the line… it’s a subsidised plan at the moment. I will be urging them to stick to it, possibly even improving it because we want the highest ambitions for the line.”