Andrew Gwynne, MP for Denton and Reddish, is today celebrating the news that funding has finally been secured to make Reddish North Station fully accessible.
At the moment, one platform at Reddish North station can only be reached via a Victorian footbridge, rendering it completely inaccessible to wheelchair users, parents with buggies, or people with mobility problems. However, it has been confirmed that part of the £1bn pounds awarded to Greater Manchester as part of the Government’s recent budget announcements will go towards making Reddish North Station fully accessible.
The news comes after years of campaigning by Reddish resident Nathaniel Yates, who has highlighted the inaccessibility of Manchester Stations and has gained the support of Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham. Burnham has been lobbying the Government for additional funding for the region.
It is understood that as part of the £1 billion, seven ‘Access for All’ stations will be delivered at Swinton, Reddish North, Hindley, Flowery Fields, Bryn, Newton for Hyde and Levenshulme.
Welcoming the announcement, Andrew Gwynne said:
“This is fantastic and very long-overdue news. I would like to thank Nathaniel Yates for his incredible and tireless campaigning on this issue. He has done such a fantastic job of raising accessibility issues across Greater Manchester.
This funding will finally make it possible for passengers with mobility impairments to access the station. It has been a long time coming, and I’m really grateful to Transport for Greater Manchester and Andy Burnham for working so hard to get some proper investment from the Government for these changes.
We want to see a Greater Manchester that is accessible to everyone. There is still a long way to go in making all our stations fully accessible, but this is a really important step on that journey.”
The Victorian footbridge at Reddish North Station