Greater Manchester is bidding for £20 million of Government funding to provide a major boost to cycling across the area.
Only one large city region will win, but if we get it we’ll see major improvements – including a lot of segregated cycle paths – built by the end of 2015. You can see more details of the Vélocity 2025 bid here.
For Cheadle and Gatley, winning the bid would see:
- Gatley Station become a cycling station, with cycle parking facilities and improvements to local roads to make cycling to the station easier and safer.
- Segregated cycle path along Manchester Road from Mill Lane (by the cemetary and Alexandra Hospital) to Parrs Wood (linking up with further safe cycling routes into Manchester City Centre).
- Improvements to path alongside the Mersey from Manchester Road, towards Stockport. This will provide an improved off-road cycle route both into Stockport and to the new Metrolink station at Parrs Wood.
We should find out if Greater Manchester has won this funding in the next six weeks.
These improvements would be on top of what’s already a major cycling boost secured for the Cheadle area that includes
- Improved cycling route through Cheadle, from Wilmslow Road to the Alexandra Hospital.
- Off-road cycling route from Cheadle/Gatley along Kingsway into Manchester
- Cycle route through Brookfield Park, past the Village Hotel into Bruntwood Park
- New and improved cycle paths across Bruntwood Park as part of the £300,000 BMX track scheme
- Cycle route enhancements near Cheadle Royal
Why do all of this? Even taken all together, it’s a small amount of money compared to what we spend just maintaining existing roads across Stockport, but the rewards are potentially great.
If we can get even 5% of people to switch from cars to bikes for short journeys, we’d see a major improvement in congestion and shorter queues at junctions. Those people would be healthier too, so they’d cost the NHS less. If we can get more people cycling, the money we spend on facilities should be saved on health and road repairs many times over.