Transport bosses take first steps towards giant strides in investment

Date published: 24 July 2009

The first steps towards delivering a £1.5 billion investment in Greater Manchester’s transport network were welcomed by councillors from across the city region at a meeting today.

Members of Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority (GMITA) heard that work is likely to start on two new Metrolink lines to Ashton-under-Lyne and East Didsbury by the end of the year.

The tram schemes, which should get the final stamp of approval from the Department for Transport in the autumn, will be among the first to be delivered from the ‘Greater Manchester Transport Fund’.

The £1.5 billion fund was established by local authorities across the city region in May this year, and will pay for 15 major public transport and road schemes over the next decade.

Good progress is also being made on business cases for two other fast-tracked projects – to deliver a range of cross-city centre bus improvements, and tram and train park and ride schemes.

Project teams are now being assembled to start work on progressing all the transport fund schemes. A detailed delivery programme outlining timescales for all 15 projects will be reported to councillors in autumn this year.

Councillor Ian Macdonald, Vice Chair of GMITA and Chair of today’s Policy and Resources Committee, said: “These are incredibly exciting times for public transport in Greater Manchester.

“With £1.5 billion of transport investment we can press on with schemes that will also play a vital role in helping create more jobs, more regeneration and more inward investment.

“We are not content to just stop there. We’re actively looking into other potential sources of funding so that we can deliver even more transport improvements in the future.”

Chair of GMITA, Councillor Keith Whitmore added: “I’m very pleased to see good progress being made on the four fast-tracked transport projects we announced in May, including two new tram lines to East Didsbury and Ashton-under-Lyne.

“I now look forward to seeing the delivery plans later this year, which will show the scale of the transport investment that is coming to Greater Manchester in the next decade. The future looks very bright indeed.”

The cross-city bus proposals include introducing more bus priority measures to make journeys to the universities and hospitals on Oxford Road quicker and more reliable. Work has now started on design and development work, which will include consultation with key stakeholders and transport modelling work.

£20 million has been allocated for park-and-ride sites serving Metrolink stops and train stations across the region. More detailed work is now being carried out with local authorities to finalise the locations, number of spaces, costings and associated land issues.
A total of £244 million has been earmarked for the four fast-tracked schemes, £195 million of which is coming from the government via Regional Funding Allocations.