New Station with No Passengers Slammed as Waste of Money

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Sun 15th Jan 2006

Local residents in Newton Heath are up in arms at a new station that has been built but with no trains or buses using it!

The new transport interchange on Oldham Rd at North Manchester Business Park was completed last year at a cost of £ 34 million, but local people cannot use it because no trains or buses are planned to stop there in the near future. Local residents who have contacted Liberal Democrat Councillor Marc Ramsbottom say it is a waste of money and could have been spent on many other things that would have improved the area and brought about much-needed jobs.

Cllr Ramsbottom, who is Manchester Liberal Democrat Finance Spokesperson, says he has contacted Manchester Transport bosses GMPTE who say they cannot give a date when it might open.

He said:

"When local residents asked me to take this issue up I immediately contacted Greater Manchester Transport bosses to find out when the interchange will open. I was astonished to be told that there are no plans to open it. Transport chiefs are blaming the Government, for not providing the money to complete Metrolink."

The North Manchester Business Park interchange was given the go-ahead in 2002, but the Secretary of State for Transport later pulled the plug on further Metrolink funding. The future is still uncertain for new Metrolink lines to Rochdale and Oldham through East Manchester.

Local resident James Guise said:

"I use the train nearly everyday to get to work, so I was gobsmacked when I was told that people cannot use the new station. Now we are told that there are no plans to use it in the future. It seems to me to be a huge "white elephant." This money could have been better used for something else".