Andrew Gwynne, MP for Denton and Reddish, has been successful in the third round of his ‘Restoring Your Railway Fund’ bid. Gwynne submitted the proposal with the support of 3 other MPs (Navendu Mishra, Angela Rayner and William Wragg) and the bid was drawn up by Transport for Greater Manchester and Stockport Council, with additional support from Stockport Mayoral Development Corporation and Tameside Council.
The proposed scheme would see the reopening of a passenger line from Stockport through Reddish South and Denton to Ashton Moss and then on to Manchester Victoria, as well as link Rose Hill (Marple) to Stockport via Reddish South.
Success in this round of funding means that the bid will progress to the next stage, and that funding will be granted to Transport for Greater Manchester to draw up technical plans to submit to the Department for Transport. In their budget document – released today – the Government states that it is allocating ‘Up to £50,000’ to develop ‘early-stage proposals to reinstate passenger links’ between Ashton and Stockport.
Gwynne, Mishra, Rayner and Wragg will now be invited to meet with Department for Transport Officials in the coming weeks to discuss how the next stage of the process will work. The Department has also instructed Government Officials to work with Transport for Greater Manchester in the coming weeks to agree research remits and appropriate joint governance and timescales.
Commenting, Andrew Gwynne said:
“I am delighted that this application has been successful in the third round of the Restoring Your Railway Fund. This is a massive step towards massively improving transport connectivity for people right across Denton and Reddish.
This has been a long and a tough campaign, and I’m so pleased that the Department for Transport have recognised the strength and value of this bid. There’s still a lot of technical work to do, but I look forward to working with Transport for Greater Manchester and the Government over the coming months to develop a plan of action.
A massive thank you to Transport for Greater Manchester, Stockport Council, Tameside Council, Stockport Mayoral Development Corporation and to Navendu Mishra, Angela Rayner and William Wragg for their support over the course of this campaign. We are one step closer to making a huge difference to people’s day-to-day lives. I would also like to thank the Friends of Reddish South Station and the Friends of Denton Station who have been constant champions for this line, and their ongoing work with me and Andy Burnham to make it a reality.”
A map of the proposed line, submitted by Gwynne and fellow MPs last year.