Tom Morrison

I beg to move, That this House has considered the future of Cheadle train station. It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Sir John. I thank the Minister for being here to address my concerns and those of my constituents directly. Cheadle is a thriving and growing town in Greater Manchester with 23,000 residents. It is a vibrant place packed with great restaurants and a fantastic community culture, and it has the most beautiful green spaces in the region. Yet it has been missing a railway station for over half a century. The original station opened 1 February 1866. It had two platforms and was located just north of Cheadle High Street. It connected Cheadle to Warrington, Stockport and Liverpool, opening up new opportunities for almost a century. At the time, the line was crucial for transporting coal between Yorkshire and the port of Liverpool, as it avoided central Manchester. The route was one of the busiest double-track lines in the country for goods services. Sadly, passenger services were withdrawn in November 1964, and Cheadle has not had a passenger rail service since. Today, Cheadle is suffering from chronic congestion. Everyone in the area will know what I mean when I talk about the Manchester Road crawl. Between 8 am and 9am, and then between 3 pm and 6 pm, the roads between Cheadle and Manchester stand at a halt as hundreds upon hundreds of cars, buses, lorries and other vehicles try to use the route between the two areas. This happens every day of the week and has become a source of real angst for my constituents. People are rightly encouraged to take the bus for public transport, but it takes an hour to get from Cheadle to Manchester Piccadilly, and from Cheadle to Stockport town centre, whereas it would take just 18 minutes and seven minutes respectively by train. It is clear that Cheadle train station is the antidote. The benefits of restoring Cheadle’s rail connection would be boundless, breathing extra life into the high street, connecting residents with work and family, reducing congestion and supporting clean growth, while opening up the region for my constituents.