GMCA have approved the latest Stockport Transport Plan

The GMCA approved the funds in preparation for the new building of the new bridge that connects the town’s transport interchange. 

Phase one, started in April 2015 and has been continuous to date, the work included Muse’s Stockport Exchange and the railway station. So far the Stockport has seen the completion of 19 of its 29 projects, with a further 7 currently in progress. GMCA’s spend on phase one has amounted to £57.7 million. We reported on the updates of this Phase back in October 2016, to remind yourselves of this click here.

The Stockport Town Centre Access Plan phase 2B and the advanced works package for the Stockport Interchange Bridge come under one of a small number nationally of large, complex projects for which ministers decided that the Department of Transport should retain approval oversight of following the agreement of local Growth Deals.

Of the 18 projects that make up Phase 2A all were approved earlier this year. Phase 2B was submitted in May for a gateway review, focusing on financial, legal, risk and strategy to ensure that all fit the consequences of the project. The GMCA was asked to release the £19,85 million necessary upon completion.

Councillor Alex Ganotis, Stockport’s leader, said at the meeting:

“This scheme is crucial to the regeneration of the town centre, both for cars and for public transport. The whole southern part of the city region will feel the benefits.

The works programme on access covers projects improving access to the town centre from the North and West ans was found by the gateway review to represent very high value for money, with every pound invested reaping £5 over the lifetime of the scheme, thanks largely to travel time savings”

When complete, the bridge scheme will see a new road bridge built across the River Mersey between Astley Street and Swaine Street. The hope is that the work will provide a route into the interchange away from the A6. This will also free Mersey Square of buses.

The phase 2B projects will be carried out under the STaR Alliance framework, covering Stockport, Trafford and Rochdale, and the Highways England CDF framework.

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