The Friends of Reddish South & Denton Stations (FORSADS) Campaign page

March 2024:

Campaign Editorial & Update

When it was announced in the free Independent local newspaper that Councillor Mark Hunter, the Leader of Stockport Council, was announcing his intention to put Stockport on the Metrolink map, with the new Interchange ‘Tram ready’; it piqued enough of our interest to investigate a little further, especially as, even with full council backing, our campaign receives nary a mention from one year’s end to the next in any council literature or publicity.

Surprise, surprise when reading the meeting minutes for the Metrolink proposals, it was described as a ‘Key Southern Gateway’ from Stockport to Manchester to make Stockport a ‘key strategic transport hub’ and that ‘beyond the direct transport benefits, Metrolink connectivity to Stockport has the potential to deliver truly transformational economic, environmental and social benefits for the borough and beyond into southern greater Manchester and beyond’

If this sounds familiar, you are right! It has been at the heart of the Friends campaign for years! 

Now, while we applaud any attempts to improve public transport in Stockport we would argue that all of the improvements that Metrolink could potentially bring to the borough could be equally served, by reinstating the Stockport—Manchester Victoria line via Reddish South & Denton Stations and therefore should be as robustly supported alongside the current negotiations!

As the proposed Metrolink route, although not yet finalized, is a link with the current terminus at East Didsbury , it is clearly coming nowhere near Reddish which has been a neglected area of Stockport borough for far too long.

The Committee have written detailing the similarities with the Metrolink plan, without the, up to, £1 billion price tag, not to mention the 35 minute journey time on the train as opposed to the 1 hour plus journey time on Metrolink to get to the heart of Manchester.

We have received a reply from Cllr Hunter, who says we are fully supported by the Council, but he did not respond to our invitation to visit and discuss the matter with us. Therefore we are in the process of formulating a response.

We are, however, very grateful to the Stockport Transport & Communities Scrutiny Committee for bringing this to the attention of the Council planners, as well as Cllr Grace Baynham’s remarks to Robert Fickling at the Travelwatch conference, (see next item) calling our line ‘a missed opportunity’ (subject of course, to the outcome of the Restoring Your Railways Report by the Department for Transport

The Committee feel that there are as many (if not more) compelling reasons to reinstate rail passenger services from Stockport to Manchester Victoria as there are those that advocate the building of the Stockport Metrolink. Combine the ambitions of both campaigns—and Stockport will become the ‘key strategic transport hub’ of Stockport Council’s ambitions.

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"RAILWAY COMMUNICATION WITH VICTORIA– Considering the numerous sums of money expended by the Railway Companies running into the Metropolis to gain inter-communication with the termini situated in the other parts of London, it is surprising that efforts have not been made to satisfy so great a desideratum for Manchester, more especially when it is borne in mind that London and North-Western Railway Company have already a short loop line near the Denton Station , which communicates with the line from Stalybridge to Victoria close to Droylsden. A regular service of trains between Stockport and Victoria would meet with plenty of patronage from Reddish & Denton to avoid the long and tiresome journey through the most busy parts of the city. The traffic between Reddish and Bolton is considerable; all of which must of necessity pass through Manchester; the crowded and inconvenient state of the Denton omnibuses shows that communication between that much-extending place and Manchester is needed; while those who form part of the yearly-increasing exodus to Blackpool & Southport would be thankful for such a saving of their time and of shifting their bags and baggage.”

Stockport Advertiser Friday 2nd August 1878

pictured above, The Mayor of Stockport, Cllr Graham Greenhalgh, opening the conference.

 Travelwatch NW Conference, Guildhall, Stockport , 12th March 2024

FORSS were invited to the Conference, held on 12th March 2024, at the Guildhall on Wellington Road in Stockport.

The topics covered were the introduction of the bus Bee Network, The future of Rail and a presentation from Transpennine Rail Company.

The Bee Network is being introduced in 3 tranches– NW Manchester was introduced in September 2023, NE Manchester on 24th March 2024, and finally , our part of Manchester in January 2025. They are introducing new routes and trialing a night service in the coming months.

Robert Fickling of TfGM informed the Conference of the difficulties rail are having since Covid, the changing pattern of rail travel and the efforts of the rail industry to follow the new trends of home working and leisure travel.

Transpennine have gone through myriad changes since they were taken over after many failings of the service.

They are now in the process of buying new trains, introducing new services, deep cleaning existing trains, and trialing a hot food service. They are part of a major infrastructure rebuild and are negotiating with staff over pay and conditions.

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Speaking to Mr Fickling of TfGM after the Travelwatch Conference was rather unedifying as he argued that Manchester Victoria was not in the social/retail hub of Manchester despite being next door to the Arena, the theatres, the retail centre, and the Manchester markets.

He stated Manchester Victoria was not where people wanted to travel, according to his data. However, he then mentioned he was quoting from data from 2017, despite earlier explaining to the conference how much travel preferences by rail had changed since Covid, more for leisure reasons than business!   

Mr Fickling was also asked about the signaling upgrade at Stockport Station, considering he had said in his talk to Conference that Stockport Station was ’stuffed’. He said that updating the signaling would mean less trains could go through Stockport than do now!

Incidentally, did you know, that when making a business case for introducing a new rail service, that calculations are included as to how much petrol tax would be lost by taking public transport not to mention the road tax if you can actually dispense with a car?

Andrew Gwynne unveiling our most recent project belatedly celebrating the 75th anniversary of VE Day.

December 2023

Looking towards 2024

As we say goodbye to what has been a rather difficult year for many of us, we look forward to a better 2024—for FORSS particularly that we have some encouraging news on the Restoring Your Railways front.

With the cancellation of HS2, more rail investment should be coming northwards, and, relatively speaking, ours is a small investment for a great gain. We have great local and regional support.

However, as we have always learnt to look at both sides, should the news be unfavourable, we still look forward to a change of government and fresh campaigning if necessary.

All we can do is cross fingers and hope for some joined up thinking from the decision makers.

September 2023:

Improvements to Denton Station platform

While not exactly campaign news, some good news: Denton Station platform has been made safer by the instalation of tactile borders at the plaform edge. 

On enquiry, Treasurer Dot was informed that Reddish South should be enjoying the same improvements by the end of November

Denton Station improvements

(photo Noel Henry, September 2023)