As part of his first official visit to the North West, Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling paid a visit to Stockport and visited the A6 to Manchester Airport Relief Road at Woodford.
The £229 million MARR project will help unlock jobs in Greater Manchester and East Cheshire by improving access to Manchester Airport. The airport relief road is set to open October 2017 and will help create up to 5,450 new jobs.
He said: “The major investment we are making in transport across the North West will improve journeys for local people as well as helping industry grow across the region.
“This is part of our plan to invest in the North, and make an economy that works for everyone – not just the privileged few – by ensuring economic prosperity is spread throughout the country. Better infrastructure is likely to boost productivity.”
Once on site the Secretary of State met some of the scheme apprentices.
Attending from the project team were Neil Rogers (CMS Construction Manager), Gareth Williams (ECC APM) and Helen Sheldon (CMS Communications).
During his visit, Chris Grayling met with some of the regions business representatives at the Bridge 10 area of the development.
Ken O’Toole, CEO of Manchester Airport attended with Adam Jupp, Head of Communications at the UK’s 3rd largest airport and spoke to Mr Grayling at length about how the new infrastructure will complement the £1bn investment plan already in progress at the airport.
Business Representatives included John Edwards (Senior Manager, Thales); Andrew Bellamy (MD, MAN Diesel & Turbo); Brian Bradley (Clarke Nicklin & Stockport Chamber); Roger Lewin, (managing director of Starkey); Helen White (Director and co-founder of Marketing Stockport) and Christian Mancier (Gorvins Solicitors & SEA).
Andrew Bellamy, managing director of MAN Diesel and Turbo UK, welcomed the construction of the new Airport Relief Road, for which Government is providing £165 million. Andrew said: “We use Manchester Airport on a daily basis for the transportation of vital diesel engine spare parts and visiting our clients and sister companies worldwide.
“Access to the relief road on our doorstep will dramatically reduce the time taken to reach the airport, improving our response time to customers and ease of travel for our employees.”
Also in attendance were representatives from Stockport Council and Cheshire East Council.
Mr Grayling went on to discuss the project and its impact on businesses within the region before moving on to the Port of Liverpool to see Peel Ports’ £300 million investment in the new Seaforth container terminal.