Stockport seeks active travel link to Heatons

A consultation has been opened, with the council asking for input on plans for a 3.3km walking and cycling route linking the suburbs to the town centre.

The project looks to make permanent a temporay measure introduced in summer 2020 by Stockport Council, which installed a temporary route along quieter streets between Heaton Chapel and the central area.

This was delivered through the national Emergency Active Travel Fund, which enabled local authorities to use temporary interventions to encourage travel on foot or by bike whilst maintaining social distancing and avoiding overcrowding on public transport.

Early tweaks were made following feedback from residents, changes including the removal of temporary signals at Heaton Chapel railway station.

Now the council has fleshed out plans to turn the temporary EATF route into a permanent scheme, to be funded through the Mayor’s Cycling and Walking Challenge Fund.

Initially spearheaded in Greater Manchester by Chris Boardman , who has now departed as transport commissioner for a national brief, plans for active travel have met with a mixed reception so far.

In December, Manchester went to the public for a third time with plans to build on well-received 2020 changes by fully pedestrianising Stevenson Square.

Liverpool too has pushed on with active travel, cycleways being a central point of the £47m city centre connectivity project that covers improvements to The Strand and Lime Street among others.

A key aspect of the proposed Stockport scheme is the introduction of traffic lights at the Heaton Moor Road/Peel Moat Road/Broomfield Road junction, next to the Elizabethan pub and St Mary and St Mina’s Church, to provide safer crossing.

In the town centre, the scheme would then connect with existing pedestrian and cycling facilities including those recently installed on George’s Road and Travis Brow, and links via pedestrian and cycle routes across M60 Junction 1 to the Trans-Pennine Trail along the River Mersey in Heaton Norris.

New markings and signage will be introduced, and bollards brought in during the emergency phase retained.

Cllr David Meller, cabinet member for economy and regeneration at Stockport Council, said: “This proposed route, which is subject to consultation with residents, would help the council to connect the town centre with the Fallowfield Loop via our recently created Heatons Cycle Links scheme.

“Stockport is passionate about walking and cycling and we want to ensure residents are informed every step of the way when the team is developing proposals such as this one.

“The Mayor’s Challenge Fund is key to our aim of creating these new walking and cycling links and we want them to help increase the number of our residents who cycle and walk to their destination – whether that be to work, school, or for leisure purposes.”

In addition to the Heatons to Stockport route, TfGM is also consulting on proposals to relocate and upgrade a crossing on Manchester Road in Heaton Chapel, close to the junctions of Bourne Street and All Saints’ Road.

The Heatons consultation is now open and runs until 13 February.

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I wish there was a cycle link from the town centre to stepping hill.
At the moment you have to ride on the A6 or Dialstone lane to get there.

By Steven Macnaughton

Another absolute waste of money the cycle path in cheadle nr waterside is hardy used by bike’s

By Chris smith

Excellent stuff. It’s important we all recognise that not everybody can or wants to drive everywhere, and yet our road systems are built to benefit only those in cars. Pedestrians, cyclists and public tranport users are sidelined and marginalised just so motorists can bob around and destroy our air quality and our environment. We need to be mass-building new cycle lanes, rail lines, bus lines – and make motorists pay for it. At the moment motoring in the UK is heavily subsidised by tax payers, and I for one am sick of seeing my tax money spent on pointless new roads, or repairing roads that are damaged by motorists drunk driving and texting behind the wheel. The future is walking, cycling, and public transport – cars are antiquated and a bit of a joke in urban areas, where they take up too much room.

By Anonymous

It’s mediocre – see Walk Ride Heatons’ assessment. What’s really needed is continuous footways and protected cycle lanes all the way along the A6. This scheme just kicks that can further down the road.

By Active Travel Trev

There is already a pelican crossing on Heaton Moor Road just after Shaw Road and thus very close to these proposed traffic lights. Surely a pedestrian could use that. As a pedestrian myself I don’t want to encourage cyclists because unlike motorists they have no consideration for other road or footpath users. They mostly totally oblivious to anyone else and think they take priority wherever they choose to cycle.

By Val

It’s all sounds great but is it safe, any walkways that are hidden out of view are just hiding places to be mugged etc.

By L

London has proved that although quietways like this are of benefit to some users, direct “superhighway” routes are also needed for a mass shift to active travel. Continuous footways and protected cycle lanes all the way along the A6 from Stockport centre to Manchester centre would be a game changer.

By W

Not everyone wants to go to the town centre, we need more routes around town between local district centres. We need a new way of looking at this, things like the freight railway line from Hazel Grove through Cheadle and onwards. It used to be double tracked but it is now single, couldn’t the unused half of trackbed be fenced off and made into a cycle and footpath with junctions on and off at various points along the route.

By Paul local

The proposed circumnavigation of Heaton Moor is absurd. You were forced to remove the traffic lights at Heaton Chapel with another ridiculous set of lights at the Elizabethan that cyclists will not use. It is yet another mad bureaucratic solution that will not make cyclists take a detour. The only way it makes any sort of sense is if you force cyclists from Burnage to go across Heaton Moor Golf Club to Peel Moat. I am sure the golfers will love that. In addition you will further logjam Heaton Moor Road. You then want to force cyclists through Heaton Norris to a dead area to the west of Stockport center – pointless. In addition your proposed Heaton Moor cycle route passes countless driveways where house owners reverse into the street. Cyclist causalities will be the result.

By Philip Johnston

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