Govt looks to overhaul Manchester rail services

The local authority has asked for road exemptions and support for its bus providers, in response to a consultation on Greater Manchester's proposed Clean Air Zone.

Network Rail will undertake improvements to Macclesfield and Atherton stations in the first quarter of next year.

The money from the Government’s Active Travel Fund, intended to support interventions to encourage walking and cycling, will help fund the construction of a city centre ‘Triangle’ system and a five-mile foot and cycle route in Wythenshawe.  

Two national brands have agreed pre-lets for retail space, while the Ritz car park and former Greenhale House residential plots have buyers standing by, according to a council report.

Transport for Greater Manchester is conducting a further consultation following one last year on plans to franchise the city’s bus network, to assess whether the pandemic has changed people’s minds.

The council has pledged to maximise the “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” High Speed 2 presents for regenerating the city centre and improving connections across the North, but called for an underground HS2 station at Manchester Piccadilly and the removal of the nearby Gateway House office block.

The developer is seeking consent for two car parks totalling 710 spaces on land between Broadway and the Manchester Ship Canal in Salford. 

Heath Lane Farm, the joint venture delivering a £100m residential scheme in Partington, has agreed to pay £1.6m towards the construction of the Carrington Relief Road, paving the way for 600 new homes. 

Lime, the company behind an electric scooter trial launching in Salford next week, said that lessons had been learned after the failure of Manchester’s MoBike scheme in 2018.