Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 14 January 2021.

The Minutes (copies of which had been circulated) of the meeting held on 14 January 2021 were approved as a correct record.

Councillors and Officers to declare any interests which they have in any of the items on the agenda for the meeting.

Councillors and Officers were invited to declare any interests which they had in any of the items on the agenda for the meeting.

No declarations of interest were made.

To consider a presentation on the Manchester Recovery Task Force’s consultation document on the rail network in the area.

The consultation seeks views from the public and stakeholders on rail timetable work that has been undertaken during 2020 to address the poor performance of the rail network in the Manchester area which has been the source of much train delay on rail services across the whole of the north of England since late 2017. The consultation will inform decisions to be made in spring 2021 on potential changes to the passenger timetable that would be implemented from May 2022.

The consultation document set out the objectives of the work and explains how options have been considered and assessed. It asks for views on the principles for the work. It also set out the type of changes that are being considered.

A representative of the Corporate Director (Place) and Deputy Chief Executive made a presentation regarding the Manchester Recovery Task Force’s consultation document on the rail network in the area (copies of which had been circulated).

The consultation sought the views from members of the public and stakeholders on rail timetable work that had been undertaken during 2020 to address the poor performance of the rail network in the Manchester area which had been the source of much train delay on rail services across the whole of the north of England since late 2017. The consultation would inform decisions to be made in spring 2021 on potential changes to the passenger timetable that would be implemented from May 2022.

The consultation document set out the objectives of the work and explained how options had been considered and assessed. It asked for views on the principles of he work. It also set out the type of changes that were being considered.

The following comments were made/issues raised:-

·         The Council should be commenting on the whole process rather than responding to the three options outlined in the document, Options A, B and C as all of the options would result in a potential loss of service from Stockport to Manchester Airport, via Piccadilly and also a loss of direct local services to some stations in north Manchester; Oxford Road, Deansgate and Salford Crescent. All of these locations were key employment locations for residents of Stockport and it was unavoidable that a reduction in service to these locations would result in increased car usage along key corridors in Stockport.

·         The review had been designed to try and find a solution to the poor performance of the rail network in the Manchester area that at the moment had largely been remedied by the decrease in the use of public transport caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

·         The Council’s aim was to increase connectivity and make Stockport a hub to the southern Manchester conurbation, not to pursue Metrolink at the expense of the rail network.

RESOLVED – (1) That the presentation be noted.

(2)  That the Cabinet Member for Economy and Regeneration be recommended to comment on the whole process rather than responding to the three options outlined in the document, Options A, B and C.

To consider an update from a representative of the Corporate Director (Place) and Deputy Chief Executive

A representative of the Corporate Director (Place) and Deputy Chief Executive made a presentation (copies of which had been circulated) on various community rail initiatives in the Greater Manchester and Cheshire areas.

RESOLVED – That the presentation be noted.