Rochdale and Oldham team up for Piccadilly transport link

Authorities in Rochdale and Oldham have teamed up to campaign for a direct tram link to Piccadilly station in Manchester.

Trams from Rochdale currently stop at the city’s Exchange Square, extending to East Didsbury when the second city crossing is complete in early 2017.

Now, Rochdale Borough Council and Oldham Council leaders Richard Farnell and Jean Stretton are calling for changes to allow some trams from the towns to go direct to Piccadilly – one of the North West’s busiest transport links with the rest of the UK.

At a Greater Manchester Transport Authority (TfGM) meeting earlier this month, a bid to divert local Metrolink services to the mainline station was quashed. Following the vote, the leaders of Rochdale and Oldham councils last week reignited the debate at a meeting of all council leaders at the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

Cllr Farnell said: “There are a lot of warm words throughout Greater Manchester in support of Rochdale and Oldham’s demands for more investment in our areas to promote growth and redress the economic imbalance that exists across Greater Manchester.

“This is one of the first opportunities to match those words with deeds. And TfGM has failed.

“We should link Oldham and Rochdale with a direct tram route to the most important transport hub in the city region. This will give us an important edge and incentive for businesses to invest here.”

He added: “Transport chiefs have argued there isn’t the demand compared to other areas - but that’s precisely the point we are making.”

Without investment in strong transport links, he explained, the towns will fail to match the demand from more prosperous areas like Bury, MediaCity and south Manchester, all of which boast a direct tram to Piccadilly.

He continued: “It means we will always be back of queue when decisions like these are made, compounding our economic woes.

“The short-sighted decision-making model used by transport bosses is all wrong. We should be planning for future growth and prioritise areas like Oldham and Rochdale to help accelerate economic activity where it is needed most.

“Without the direct link it will make the prospect of future growth so much harder. In short we have the confidence to invest in the future prospects for Rochdale and Oldham more than other more prosperous areas. But it will mean giving our area priority over more prosperous areas for once. What’s wrong with that?”

Cllrs Farnell and Stretton have now secured top-level talks with TfGM boss Andrew Fender and Greater Manchester interim mayor Tony Lloyd and plan to press the case.