Transport strategy under review to relieve pressures of the daily commute

Aerial view SEMMMS Handforth Low Res

The Council is working on a new strategy to tackle congestion and improve journey time reliability in the northern part of the borough.

Cheshire East Council is working with Stockport Council and Transport for Greater Manchester to identify solutions to traffic and travel problems experienced by residents - particularly within the A34, A523, and A6 corridors.

The public now have the opportunity to give their views on proposed solutions through a two-phased public consultation beginning today (Wednesday, 14th March).

The three public bodies, together with other stakeholders and partners, are working together to refresh the South East Manchester Multi Modal Strategy (SEMMMS), which was produced in 2001 to outline a 20 year transport plan for the South-East Manchester area.

The two councils, plus TfGM, will build on the original SEMMMS strategy to prioritise new proposals for improving connectivity between the north of the borough into and out of Greater Manchester.

A major feature of the original SEMMMS was the Manchester Airport relief road, which is currently being built, alongside Poynton Relief Road – which is being progressed by Cheshire East Council.

Fresh proposals will seek to address the added pressures on commuter routes as a result of additional housing and population growth and will extend the strategy up to 2040. These proposals will also be incorporated within a new local transport plan for Cheshire East.

Frank Jordan, Cheshire East Council executive director of place, said: "The council is conscious of the day-to-day travel problems experienced by our residents living in the north of the borough.

"We also appreciate that many people travelling into the borough, experience the same problems due chiefly to the volume of traffic generated and the lack of sufficient road capacity and gaps in public transport.

"The original SEMMMS strategy was successful in securing significant government funding to address this key transport issue. Given this success and the emerging plans for additional development across the border in Greater Manchester, the time is now right to review what our future transport priorities should be.

"This consultation is an opportunity for our residents to give us their thoughts and feedback. We hope that as many people as possible will take advantage of this opportunity."

The consultation will be held in two stages – the first is to ensure all of the key issues and options for improvement have been captured.

The consultation begins today (Wednesday 14th March) and a drop-in event will take place at Poynton Civic Hall on 27 March between 3pm and 8pm.

Members of the public can also respond via an online questionnaire.

Comments received after 5pm on 12th April will not be included in the consultation process.

The second stage of the consultation will run in tandem with Stockport Council and will seek views on which schemes should be prioritised.

Tags:
A34 Bypass, Cheshire East Council, SEMMMS
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Comments

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.

Richard Slater
Wednesday 14th March 2018 at 3:58 pm
Stop building houses on the greenbelt and build some affordable on brownfield sites
Russell Young
Wednesday 14th March 2018 at 4:20 pm
Coming out with a 'gaps in public transport' comment when they themselves are making massive cuts to bus services in two weeks time, would be funny, if it wasn't so serious.
Chris Wigley
Wednesday 14th March 2018 at 4:44 pm
Isn't this a great example of closing the door after the horse has bolted. Week after week in these pages we have members of the public complaining about the massive delays caused by road works in and around Handforth and Wilmslow. Many of these caused by road development, surely it should have been a case of providing alternatives or scheduling so that there are not too many obstructions all at once. Is that beyond our planners?
Barry Buxton
Wednesday 14th March 2018 at 4:56 pm
Extend Metrolink to Wilmslow.
Barry Stafford
Wednesday 14th March 2018 at 5:59 pm
This is a huge joke!!! This lot couldn't organise a p....... up in a brewery. The SEMMS a total disaster. Completion Aug 2017,, Then Carillion went pear shape. The Altrincham Rd between the two tunnels to the M56 is way behind. No body working 6 men playing with their phones and one using his Tonka Toy crane. I saw around 20 management types at these warehouses ,near the airport.All congratulating each other for a disaster. This was the same on the SEMMS road nobody working from Fri lunch until Monday.On both these contracts the Management was non existent. Stockport now say the airport road should be ready by late Summer??? At Handforth and at Woodford today 14th Mar. There is no tarmac laid ,or landscaping started. Carillion were involved with both these contracts. Baz
Suzanne Metcalfe
Wednesday 14th March 2018 at 6:56 pm
The A34 was made into a dual carriage way to relieve congestion. All the council does is allow houses and industrial estates to be built off it turning it into one big car park.
Why do we need handforth dean turning into another Trafford centre. To cause more chaos and add more traffic to the a34.
Meanwhile Businesses move out of Stockport, which was promised a make over revealing the river again etc. This never happened.
It’s Cheshire east that have created all this mess must have been told to say this to make us trust them more when it’s them that are still causing the problems.
Suzanne Metcalfe
Wednesday 14th March 2018 at 7:00 pm
I’ve just thought it’s an early April fools!
Tim George
Wednesday 14th March 2018 at 7:29 pm
Stop building houses before road system sorted. I see 7 houses on adlington road has been declined but not the 161 on dean road. Double standards and/or money !
Tim George
Wednesday 14th March 2018 at 7:47 pm
Mr Jordan How much does the council make out of agreeing to these developments ?
Get the roads sorted first.
Look after your local residents.
Chris Wigley
Wednesday 14th March 2018 at 8:42 pm
There is no way the Metrolink would come out to Wilmslow, Cheshire East is not part of GMPTE. At the moment there isn't even a Metrolink going to the major town of Stockport. I wonder if there has been a road traffic survey done to establish the destination of vehicles travelling on our road.
James MacDonald
Wednesday 14th March 2018 at 10:07 pm
A new strategy? So they had one already? Vote of no confidence.
Robert Bracegirdle
Wednesday 14th March 2018 at 10:23 pm
Thanks to the M60 on the old Midland rail route any Metrolink extension to Stockport from East Didsbury has lost any economic solution. Crossings of the Mersey are apparently too expensive and cannot be justified on expected passenger loadings. This despite Stockport being a destination in its own right.

Building roads and houses on former rail routes is a mistake. A very serious one.

Finally, public transport should be in place for new hous8ng before the first house is built. This is what happens in the Netherlands.
Paul Hampton
Thursday 15th March 2018 at 7:21 am
“Frank Jordan, Cheshire East Council executive director of place, said: "The council is conscious of the day-to-day travel problems experienced by our residents living in the north of the borough.”

Thank you for this very timely assessment, Frank. What impresses me most is that it only took a couple of short years of gridlock on the A34, with several months of meticulously orchestrated roadworks on all arterial routes in and out of Wilmslow thrown in, for you to reach this state of consciousness. Please keep up the great work.
Robert Taylor
Thursday 15th March 2018 at 12:48 pm
We do not need more roads because this creates induced traffic. More road capacity = increase in car use. Always. The A555 MAELR for will be at capacity in some places within two years of opening.

What we need is a number of carrot and stick concepts to be applied to the problems in this area. Individuals have to accept that it is not acceptable to jam up roads with their one-occupant cars at peak times anymore. Nicely linked up cycle and walking network to frequent and reliable public transport is possible but some individuals will have to put up with compromises if they wish to continue using their private cars at peak travel times.

The reliability and frequency of privatised bus services in this area is very poor. Often late because of congestion. More infrastructure has to be delivered to make bus corridors more effective.

I believe a light rail on-off road carriageway could compliment the existing Metrolink services along with linking to bus and rail stations in the area or take a different route to the airport rail link. In order to do that CEC and TFGM would have to joint-work and focus on a travel to work region as a route study.
Julie Green
Thursday 15th March 2018 at 5:22 pm
Build a proper set of park and ride car parks on BROWNFIELD land serving South Manchester / North Cheshire.
Julian Barlow
Friday 16th March 2018 at 2:45 pm
A more accurate name for a consultation would be an "Ignorathon". It's a testament to the ineptitude of CEC that they can consult on matters of the blindingly obvious, receive many hundreds of comments from the general public further reinforcing the blindingly obvious, before going on to make (usually catastrophic) decisions, taking no account whatsoever of the public opinion they pretended they wanted.
Alan Brough
Friday 16th March 2018 at 3:47 pm
@ Julian Barlow,

An absolutely perfect assessment of the situation.

I thought exactly the same as I read the story but couldn't have put it into words quite as well as you have.
Colin Jones
Friday 23rd March 2018 at 2:20 pm
There are a lot of recommendations posted here. I hope everyone who has commented is also completing the online questionnaire (see hyperlink in article), otherwise it is unlikely CEC will see your views. Is this the case, Lisa?
Pete Taylor
Friday 23rd March 2018 at 4:28 pm
When the first airport tunnel was constructed, the cutting for the Altrincham road between the Bollin bridge (Valley Lodge/Britannia Hotel) right up to the junction at The Romper (now Chinese City) was cut wide enough for a dual carriageway, with two lanes in each direction (look behind the bushes on the airport side near the top of the hill and you will see the original rusting ARMCO barrier).

Runway 2 and the second tunnel came along- massive delays and huge roadworks but still the road was not widened.

Now we have had around two years of further works (and delays) and STILL the road has not been widened to the original dual-carriageway specification! Unbelievable.