This Council Meeting is aware that the Stockport Liberal Democrats are currently running a campaign, including a petition and a demonstration, “to stop a proposed reduction of the service at Davenport train station” by the “Labour-run Transport for Greater Manchester”.
However, this Council Meeting notes that no such service cut is proposed by Transport for Greater Manchester, or by the train operators, meaning that the current service level is under no threat, and therefore that users of Davenport Station are being troubled by a threat that has either been invented to provide content for leaflets, or is at best based on a misunderstanding.
This Council Meeting is firmly of the view that rail users across our Borough would be better served by councillors of all Parties joining together to fight real threats and not imagined ones, such as that proposed in the McNulty Report to remove all staff from ‘Class E’ stations, including Brinnington, Woodsmoor, Davenport, Gatley, Heald Green, Heaton Chapel, Reddish North, Bramhall, Bredbury, and Romiley, leaving only vending machines.
This Council Meeting believes that staffed ticket offices are vital to maintain safe and well-presented station environments, to ensure good customer service, and to provide assistance to elderly and disabled passengers, and that ideally, staffing hours should be increased, but certainly not cut entirely.
This Council Meeting firmly opposes any moves to cut either train services or station staffing within our Borough, and fully supports the campaign against staffing cuts led by the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) as well as the work of groups such as the Friends of Davenport Station, the Friends of Heaton Chapel Station, and the Friends of Reddish South Station, to campaign for high quality rail services, to work with staff to improve station environments, and to provide rail users with news and information.
This Council Meeting therefore requests that the Chief Executive writes on our behalf to:
· The Secretary of State for Transport urging her to reject the recommendation in the McNulty Report that staffing be removed – or reduced – at any railway station in this Borough; and
· Stockport’s four Members of Parliament, and to the Chair of the Transport for Greater Manchester Committee, setting out our objections to any reduction in staffing at stations in Stockport, and to ask for their support in retaining, or improving the current level of staffing provision at all of Stockport’s railway stations, and in maintaining, or increasing, the current number of trains serving these stations.
Moved by: Cllr David White
Seconded by: Cllr Alexander Ganotis
Minutes:
MOVED AND SECONDED
This Council Meeting is aware that the Stockport Liberal Democrats are currently running a campaign, including a petition and a demonstration, “to stop a proposed reduction of the service at Davenport train station” by the “Labour-run Transport for Greater Manchester”.
However, this Council Meeting notes that no such service cut is proposed by Transport for Greater Manchester, or by the train operators, meaning that the current service level is under no threat, and therefore that users of Davenport Station are being troubled by a threat that has either been invented to provide content for leaflets, or is at best based on a misunderstanding.
This Council Meeting is firmly of the view that rail users across our Borough would be better served by councillors of all Parties joining together to fight real threats and not imagined ones, such as that proposed in the McNulty Report to remove all staff from ‘Class E’ stations, including Brinnington, Woodsmoor, Davenport, Gatley, Heald Green, Heaton Chapel, Reddish North, Bramhall, Bredbury, and Romiley, leaving only vending machines.
This Council Meeting believes that staffed ticket offices are vital to maintain safe and well-presented station environments, to ensure good customer service, and to provide assistance to elderly and disabled passengers, and that ideally, staffing hours should be increased, but certainly not cut entirely.
This Council Meeting firmly opposes any moves to cut either train services or station staffing within our Borough, and fully supports the campaign against staffing cuts led by the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) as well as the work of groups such as the Friends of Davenport Station, the Friends of Heaton Chapel Station, and the Friends of Reddish South Station, to campaign for high quality rail services, to work with staff to improve station environments, and to provide rail users with news and information.
This Council Meeting therefore requests that the Chief Executive writes on our behalf to:
· The Secretary of State for Transport urging her to reject the recommendation in the McNulty Report that staffing be removed – or reduced – at any railway station in this Borough; and
· Stockport’s four Members of Parliament, and to the Chair of the Transport for Greater Manchester Committee, setting out our objections to any reduction in staffing at stations in Stockport, and to ask for their support in retaining, or improving the current level of staffing provision at all of Stockport’s railway stations, and in maintaining, or increasing, the current number of trains serving these stations.
AMENDMENT MOVED AND SECONDED
Delete all after “This Council meeting” and replace with:
“notes:
· The good work being done by Stockport Council in campaigning for improvements to train services across Stockport; and
· that train services are an essential part of Stockport’s transport infrastructure because 6.8 million people use Stockport’s stations every year, that 21% of all Greater Manchester heavy rail stations are in Stockport, that Stockport station is the rail-head of choice for 1.2 million people across South Manchester, North Cheshire and the High Peak and that the 2.8 million annual users make Stockport Station the fourth best used station in Greater Manchester.
This Council meeting further notes:
· The work done by the SE Manchester Community Rail Partnership (SEMcrp), jointly funded by Stockport, Tameside and Manchester in promoting rail travel on the Marple and Glossop corridors, in particular from areas of high deprivation such as Brinnington and Hattersley; and
· that SEMcrp has already helped form Friends groups at Romiley, Brinnington and Hattersley stations and is supporting the campaign for a new rail service from Stockport to Manchester Victoria via Reddish South and Denton.
This Council meeting resolves to continue to support the campaigning work of our officers and representatives in gaining further improvements to our train services, most notably:
· To welcome the cascade of additional rolling stock to the North, directed by the Coalition Government, which will ensure that the worst overcrowded trains on Stockport's services will have additional carriages from Dec 2011. This is in stark contrast to the last Labour Government which promised 224 extra carriages for the North of England but delivered ZERO;
· to welcome the change in heart by TfGM in making the proposed second train/hr to Buxton a NEW train, thus restoring to Hazel Grove it's historical 3 trains/hr service and to continue to ensure that this train also stops at both Woodsmoor and Davenport EVERY hour;
· to persuade Trans Pennine Express to stop the hourly Cleethorpes train at Hazel Grove, thus giving Hazel Grove 4 trains per hour for the first time;
· to continue to campaign to bring Heald Green station up to the standard of other stations on the Airport line;
· to welcome the additional Sunday trains to Bramhall from Dec 2011;
· to welcome the forthcoming Northern Rail review of services on the Marple corridor, which will give a clockface 15 min service at Romiley and clockface half-hourly services at other stations on that line from Dec 2012;
· to welcome the review of Sunday services on Marple corridor promised for Dec 2012, which recognises that Sunday travel is as significant as Saturday travel;
· to welcome the Access for All bridge and lifts installed at Hazel Grove and Cheadle Hulme stations, and which are shortly to be installed at Marple Station; and
· to support the campaign for half-hourly services on all lines to be extended through to 11.30pm.”
For the amendment 41, against 0.
The amendment was then put as the substantive motion and it was
RESOLVED – (41 for) This Council meeting notes:
· The good work being done by Stockport Council in campaigning for improvements to train services across Stockport; and
· that train services are an essential part of Stockport’s transport infrastructure because 6.8 million people use Stockport’s stations every year, that 21% of all Greater Manchester heavy rail stations are in Stockport, that Stockport station is the rail-head of choice for 1.2 million people across South Manchester, North Cheshire and the High Peak and that the 2.8 million annual users make Stockport Station the fourth best used station in Greater Manchester.
This Council meeting further notes:
· The work done by the SE Manchester Community Rail Partnership (SEMcrp), jointly funded by Stockport, Tameside and Manchester in promoting rail travel on the Marple and Glossop corridors, in particular from areas of high deprivation such as Brinnington and Hattersley; and
· that SEMcrp has already helped form Friends groups at Romiley, Brinnington and Hattersley stations and is supporting the campaign for a new rail service from Stockport to Manchester Victoria via Reddish South and Denton.
This Council meeting resolves to continue to support the campaigning work of our officers and representatives in gaining further improvements to our train services, most notably:
· To welcome the cascade of additional rolling stock to the North, directed by the Coalition Government, which will ensure that the worst overcrowded trains on Stockport's services will have additional carriages from Dec 2011. This is in stark contrast to the last Labour Government which promised 224 extra carriages for the North of England but delivered ZERO;
· to welcome the change in heart by TfGM in making the proposed second train/hr to Buxton a NEW train, thus restoring to Hazel Grove it's historical 3 trains/hr service and to continue to ensure that this train also stops at both Woodsmoor and Davenport EVERY hour;
· to persuade Trans Pennine Express to stop the hourly Cleethorpes train at Hazel Grove, thus giving Hazel Grove 4 trains per hour for the first time;
· to continue to campaign to bring Heald Green station up to the standard of other stations on the Airport line;
· to welcome the additional Sunday trains to Bramhall from Dec 2011;
· to welcome the forthcoming Northern Rail review of services on the Marple corridor, which will give a clockface 15 min service at Romiley and clockface half-hourly services at other stations on that line from Dec 2012;
· to welcome the review of Sunday services on Marple corridor promised for Dec 2012, which recognises that Sunday travel is as significant as Saturday travel;
· to welcome the Access for All bridge and lifts installed at Hazel Grove and Cheadle Hulme stations, and which are shortly to be installed at Marple Station; and
· to support the campaign for half-hourly services on all lines to be extended through to 11.30pm.