Mayor confirms plans in place for Metrolink trams to go to Stockport, Heywood, and Middleton

Andy Burnham has confirmed plans are in place to bring Metrolink trams to Stockport and extend services to Middleton and Heywood.

The mayor, speaking outside the new Stockport Interchange as shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves visited the town, confirmed that a previously-teased ‘appraisal’ has been completed. It was set to be published in early June but this has been delayed by the general election campaign.

“That work is done and we will be publishing that as soon as we can after the election,” he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

“Obviously, it relates to how we will bring Metrolink to this place behind me, and our ambitions to go north with potentially a tram-train option serving Atom Valley – Middleton, Heywood, Bury – and other schemes as well. We will bring that work forward very quickly.”

While both lines have been the subject of speculation, election pledges from the Conservatives, and on the wishlist of Mr Burnham and his contemporaries for years, Friday (21 June) saw the most concrete affirmation that they will be built. The Greater Manchester mayor also said that he believed Labour would back his plans to build a new railway line from Liverpool to Manchester, should the party win the election on 4 July.

That was despite shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh telling journalists at Manchester Airport yesterday (20 June) that ‘we are not going into this election promising anything that we can’t commit to’, and did not commit specifically to the new Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) line between the two cities.

“We want to take a long-term approach that encourages the private sector to invest and make sure that every penny that we spend of taxpayers’ money delivers the best return and delivers the best outcomes for passengers across the North,” Ms Haigh said. “But Northern rail connectivity and transport infrastructure will absolutely be the priority of the next Labour government.”

However, Mr Burnham ‘believes there is a commitment’ having ‘spoken to Keir [Starmer] and Louise [Haigh] about it’.

“There is £17bn in the plan,” he went on. “The thing I will be getting over to both of them is this new line will be linking an investment zone in Liverpool city centre via a big development in Warrington, Manchester Airport, and to another investment zone in Manchester city centre.

“That £17bn is in the [Integrated Rail] plan, with £12bn left in the plan and £5bn allocated to the Liverpool end of the line… it’s a funded plan at the moment. I will be encouraging them to stick to it, possibly even increasing it because we want the highest ambitions for the line.”

Earlier in the day, Rachel Reeves said she was prepared ‘have fights’ with campaigners who attempt to block regional housing blueprints, which Labour says will form part of their plans for government if they win. In Greater Manchester, the city-region’s Places for Everyone plan – the huge document which was passed in March after a decade-long saga – is now facing the prospect of a judicial review after campaigners took court action.

Ms Reeves, when asked how Labour can implement such a system of regional plans if they could be challenged in court, replied: “We are going to reform the planning system to make it easier to build, and we’re also going to ensure when challenges are made they can be expedited – because we don’t want things being held back for years and years and years, whether that’s housing, energy infrastructure, digital infrastructure, or transport infrastructure.

“It just adds to cost. It’s why it costs more to build train lines in the UK, why it takes longer to build off-shore wind, and why it’s impossible to build on-shore wind in the UK.

“We are going to reform those planning systems – I know it’s not easy, I know it will require taking on vested interests… that does mean having some fights. Those are fights we are willing to have because they’re essential if we are going to get our economy growing and get money into our public services.”

Ethan Davies, Local Democracy Reporter