A6 to Manchester Airport Relief Road

[wheels]

why nobody else is taxed for road use??

[bluebelly]

its about time cyclists were taxed for road use and also have some sort of test/licence

[Harry]

I think they should pay people to cycle to work

They'd have to pay me a lot of money when my commute can be up to 210 miles each way, sometimes more.

[Bluezorro]

I think they should pay people to cycle to work

[Dolores]

If you didn't see Monday's Inside Out programme I'd really recommend a viewing on the BBC iplayer.  Not only evidence to back up the 'peak car' theory but also reports of a 40% increase in journeys by rail. 

[wheels]

Agree thats why its such a shame that the 3p petrol increase was cancelled yesterday

[Cyberman]

Thanks Dolores for an interesting and relevant contribution. The figures for traffic increase have put me in the "we don't need it" category. I'd recently seen a BBC article here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20526328 suggesting that car use has peaked - and certainly petrol / diesel won't get any cheaper as the stuff runs out and our friends in China and India want more of it. So do we need to cover more of the countryside in concrete and tarmac? I'd go with RSH's tram option - lower environmental impact on construction, and better able to use non-fossil energy. We could even build a nuclear power station on the Hibbert Lane CAMSFC site to power it - that would get them their £12m! 

[Dolores]

Hello, I'm not a Marple resident but I live in Poynton and am part of a group challenging the road in its present form as we cannot see it being of any benefit to the area.  Apologies for barging onto your forum but I wondered whether you'd had a chance to look at the traffic modelling for the road.  As far as Marple is concerned, there will be quite an increase in traffic on the surrounding roads.  Those with figures included on the SEMMMS map show the following increases in daily vehicle movements:

A626 Stockport Road   24500 - 27900    +13%
A627 Dooley Lane        20700 - 22500    + 8%
A626 Marple Road        11100 - 13700    + 23%
A627 Offerton Road      13300 - 18500    + 39%
Torkington Lane/Road   1500 - 3900       + 160%
Threaphurst Lane         500 - 1000        + 100%
Windlehurst Road         7300 - 8900       + 22%
A6 (at High Lane)        24500 - 30500    + 24%

If you weren't already aware, there is a public exhibition scheduled for 12th December in Disley. 
Best regards.

[amazon]

I remember getting on a steam train in Romiley as a kid in the Sixties and going to Tiviot Dale station in Stockport. The railway followed the route of the motorway after branching off behind Bredbury station but of course it is mostly built over now. Dr Beeching has a lot to answer for.

I remember the steam trains coming up to Woodley junction I used to live on Hyde road they had double
   Headers because of the gradient ,they used o be a small shunting yard at Woodley ,with. A pretty large coal yard .i think it belonged to the coop .great days for spoting .

[thebigshed]

I remember getting on a steam train in Romiley as a kid in the Sixties and going to Tiviot Dale station in Stockport. The railway followed the route of the motorway after branching off behind Bredbury station but of course it is mostly built over now. Dr Beeching has a lot to answer for.

[Dave]

I agree that the route described by rsh is preferable to the 'Reddish Vale chord', but I just fear that the much greater cost and the possible planning and/or engineering obstacles could be prohibitive.

[amazon]

Agreed, wheels.  It's a no-brainer, and I don't know why it isn't being seriously considered.  It would provide a direct rail service to Stockport from Marple/Rose Hill, Romiley, Bredbury and Brinnington, and these trains would also call at a re-opened Reddish South.  There's a local campaign to re-open Reddish South, and there's even a 'Friends of Reddish South' organisation!  http://reddish.dsracing.me.uk/

It seems like a good idea, but Friends of Reddish South seem to be getting nowhere because they're told Heaton Norris junction (and possibly the viaduct and station) don't have enough spare capacity to allow for more trains.

For a rail service like this to Stockport to be viable it really needs to be on something like a 15 minute frequency (or say every 30 minutes each from both Marple and Rose Hill), to match the buses. For that the idea of a new tram line branching off at Bredbury or Brinnington and roughly following the M60 would be a far better solution and worth the extra cost. As well as the existing railway stations you'd have stops at Portwood/Peel Centre, Bridgefield/Merseyway and terminating at the bus station, with some kind of new travelator up to the station for anyone who wants to continue onwards (probably far fewer than actually want to stay in Stockport). It'd be a much quicker service from Marple (quicker than buses at rush hour I'd imagine) and serve more of the places people want to actually go in Stockport.

I agree about the slight lack of vision in this borough though...

Great so were does it branch off .

[rsh]

Agreed, wheels.  It's a no-brainer, and I don't know why it isn't being seriously considered.  It would provide a direct rail service to Stockport from Marple/Rose Hill, Romiley, Bredbury and Brinnington, and these trains would also call at a re-opened Reddish South.  There's a local campaign to re-open Reddish South, and there's even a 'Friends of Reddish South' organisation!  http://reddish.dsracing.me.uk/

It seems like a good idea, but Friends of Reddish South seem to be getting nowhere because they're told Heaton Norris junction (and possibly the viaduct and station) don't have enough spare capacity to allow for more trains.

For a rail service like this to Stockport to be viable it really needs to be on something like a 15 minute frequency (or say every 30 minutes each from both Marple and Rose Hill), to match the buses. For that the idea of a new tram line branching off at Bredbury or Brinnington and roughly following the M60 would be a far better solution and worth the extra cost. As well as the existing railway stations you'd have stops at Portwood/Peel Centre, Bridgefield/Merseyway and terminating at the bus station, with some kind of new travelator up to the station for anyone who wants to continue onwards (probably far fewer than actually want to stay in Stockport). It'd be a much quicker service from Marple (quicker than buses at rush hour I'd imagine) and serve more of the places people want to actually go in Stockport.

I agree about the slight lack of vision in this borough though...

[Dave]

Visit to friends and family would only be helped by a service to Stockport if the friends or family lived closed to Stockport station.

People's friends and family are more likely to live in Cheadle Hulme, Bramhall, Wilmslow, Macclesfield, Altrincham, Hale etc etc, all of which are served by direct train services from Stockport.  So you hop on a train at Marple or Rose Hill, and then just cross the platform at Stockport to get another local train to visit Auntie Sue in Handforth.

Out of your list, shopping, meal, clubbing, connect with other trains, can all be done at last as well in Manchester then Stockport and we already have a good trains service to Manchester.   

Indeed.  Which perfectly illustrates why a direct rail link from Marple, Romiley, Bredbury and Brinnington to Stockport would be a boost for the local economy.  We need to keep people spending (and thereby creating jobs) round here, not in the centre of Manchester.

[wheels]

Even if you might not use it yourself I can't understand why someone would actually be opposed to what is a good and cheap alternative to getting traffic off the roads and and which all evaluation done thus far indicate would be a major boost to the towns economy. Local Government has called for a rail link, the business community has supported them the environmental movement isin faviour. What do you know the restof us don't