For the first time, Stockport’s Council meeting has voted down a motion in support of the destructive A6-M60 Bypass plan. The vote on March 31st 2022 was on a motion from the Conservatives telling the Council leadership to try harder to find funding for the massively expensive £500 million road.

The beautiful Lower Goyt and Poise Brook Valleys (pictured) and the green spaces of Offerton and Hazel Grove have faced a long-running threat from the proposed Bypass, which would extend the A555 from Hazel Grove to Bredbury.

Stockport Council’s attempt to get funding from the Government for its plans failed in 2016, 2018 and 2019. The recent vote by the Council is unlikely to be the end of the matter. The Council is preparing a new Local Plan which could still include the Bypass.

If the leadership of the Council were to change, this might also give new impetus to the Bypass plan. The Council’s current Labour leaders are against the Bypass but are a minority in the Council chamber.

TAME VALLEY: Warehouses will NOT be built on the Tame Valley at Woodley. A Public Inquiry has rejected the developers’ appeal.  See more.

Supporters of the A6-M60 Bypass say that loss of green space is necessary  in order to reduce traffic congestion and pollution. They ignore the fact that road building generates more traffic overall. The A6-M60 Bypass would create new traffic problems locally and increase traffic over the wider area.

We need both green space and unpolluted roads. Before the completion of the A6-Airport Road (A555) in 2018, traffic in Stockport was decreasing slightly, apart from on the motorways. Let’s hope that the Covid-19 lockdowns cement this trend by encouraging a shift towards more home working.

We are also edging closer to the Government’s 2030 date for all new cars to be electric, in order to combat climate change.  As the proportion of electric cars on the roads increases towards the end of this decade, pollution should reduce – as long as petrol and diesel traffic does not grow in the mean time. Any new road schemes not yet ongoing will not be finished until the early 2030s at the earliest.

Even with a gradual switch to electric cars, continued road building would still be bad for climate change. There’s a carbon cost to concreting over green belt and encouraging greater use of cars, whether petrol or electric, and particularly if those cars are travelling to Manchester Airport along A6-M60/A555.

There are many reasons why the A6-M60 Bypass is a bad idea:

Airport Road shambles: The Bypass would extend the A555 Airport Road completed in October 2018. The A555 has increased congestion around its eastern end. It has been closed many times by flooding. Construction was chaotic and late, causing costs to rise. Do we want more of this?

Induced traffic:  New roads don’t just take up existing traffic; they generate extra traffic, which is why roads aimed to ease congestion end up producing more jams – like the M60!  The Bypass would be the same.

High Lane:  Congestion on the A6 in High Lane and Disley was aggravated by the A555. The A6-M60 Bypass will make it even more jammed.

Blocked exits: Existing congestion on the M60 eastbound at Bredbury and at the Airport end of the A555 is bad and would be made worse by the Bypass. The A555 would become busier and would need to be widened in places.

Offerton snarl-up: Three Bypass junctions controlled by traffic lights would be close together in Offerton and Hazel Grove, drawing traffic and congestion through local streets to the new road. In total the Bypass would have seven junctions with traffic signals on the carriageways.

Climate change: The Bypass would be bad for climate change because it would take more cars to the Airport; it would increase traffic and car dependency; it would destroy carbon absorbing greenery and trees; and its construction would have a heavy carbon footprint.

Flooding: The Bypass would cross the flood plains of Poise Brook (including flood-prone areas of Bosden farm Estate and Hazel Grove) and streams running into the Lower Goyt. It would collect water that would no longer be able to soak away into the earth.

Disappearing nature: At a time when many plant, insect and animal species are facing extinction we need to preserve our woods, valleys and fields. The Bypass would go through nine Sites of Biological Importance, designated to protect natural habitats.

Stale ideas from SEMMMS Refresh

The Bypass remains stubbornly at the heart of the Council’s new transport strategy SEMMMS Refresh, which has never been officially signed off.

Including the Bypass in SEMMMS Refresh makes a nonsense of the transport strategy. The Bypass would generate extra traffic and create new problems of congestion at the massive cost of £500 million, which is money better spent on public transport.

Stockport needs alternatives to using the car – not more dependency on cars.

In November 2017 we presented a 7,000-signature petition opposing the Bypass. Our current petition calling on the Council to drop the Bypass from its SEMMMS Refresh is at https://tinyurl.com/TreesNotConcrete

(SEMMMS is short for “South East Manchester Multi Modal Study/Strategy”)