Parliament approves Stockport MDC expansion

The city council’s cabinet meeting next week is set to rubber-stamp a £4m package of highway improvements, part of its wider £250m regeneration programme for the Anfield area.

Proposals have been lodged for a 171-space multi-storey car park on Waterloo Road, a move that follows an application for a new footbridge over the River Tame.

Collective efforts to regenerate the Birkenhead area are a long time in the making and have been hard-fought. Project overruns and intense scrutiny over the use of public funds have cast a long shadow, but we have entered 2026 amid an undeniably bright spot of positive progress, writes Sebastian Gardiner of Peel Ports Logistics.

Both Glencar, responsible for the facilities building, and highways contractor Bethell are on site at the development off Junction 11 of the M62.

Those travelling on the Metrolink between Altrincham and Bury could be heading underground in the future, with Greater Manchester Combined Authority agreeing to invest £375,000 to begin feasibility studies on a tunnelled metro.

With Balfour Beatty nearing completion on phase one of the Southport Eastern Access scheme, a pair of cycle and footway schemes have been approved as phase two preparation gathers pace.

Contractors and civil engineers are wanted for the council’s latest four-year framework, comprising 11 lots valued between £60,000 and £60m.

In the works since 2015, the replacement of a double roundabout on the A582 near Farington Moss is part of a wider programme set for Department for Transport backing.

Design development and environmental assessment work for a grade-separated junction to the south of A483 Junction 4 is due to commence imminently, now that the Welsh Government has said it will financially support the scheme over the next 18 months.

Delivery of a railway station serving the Liverpool district will be delayed from the initial target date, with Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram  now hoping for completion in 2029.

Cumberland Council cited “higher-than-average rainfall during key phases of the earthworks and road surfacing” as the main reason for the project’s delayed delivery – having initially been set to complete last summer.

Plans for the first 435 homes at Stockport 8 require the demolition of the existing depot off Daw Bank, facilitating the need for two short-term bus compounds while work to find a site for a permanent complex with EV-charging capability drags on.

A 2.7-mile stretch of road, billed as crucial to unlocking large development sites that could deliver 5,000 homes and 3.7m sq ft of employment space, has gone in for planning.

Full approval is sought for the redevelopment of retail and associated parking at Station Road, the second phase of the southern gateway scheme at Citadel station.

A new rail route between Liverpool and Manchester via Manchester Airport and Warrington will make up one element of the long-promised rail project to boost east-west links across the North of England.

The government is set to announce the revival of long-term plans to build a high-speed service between Manchester and the West Midlands – but will hope to learn lessons from the overrunning HS2 project.

Wigan Council and Manchester City Council received “green” scores, while Bolton Council, Westmorland and Furness Council, and Cumberland Council were given “red” status.

Principal contractor Skanska razed the 130-metre-long West Coast Main Line railway bridge this past weekend, the first phase of Network Rail’s £60m project that will see a replacement structure erected by the end of 15 January.

Enhanced stations, route electrification, and track improvements – 2025 was a busy year for the railway programme, which aims to improve journeys on the 76-mile stretch that includes Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds, and York.