Transport; Paul Rowen's Transport Matter's Column
Added 21/05/2009I would firstly like to congratulate the 10 Council Leaders of Greater Manchester for the efforts to bring our ambitious transport plans closer to reality. This is a great example of Liberal Democrat Councils like Rochdale, Stockport and Oldham, working together with the Conservative and Labour Councils across Greater Manchester to deliver practical solutions to the problems caused by the Labour Government’s chronic lack of commitment to public transport.
As Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Light Rail, I have seen first hand the huge boost that Light Rail systems deliver for urban areas across Europe. It was ironic though that the Secretary of State for Transport - Geoff Hoon MP came to Manchester to launch our new scheme.
On the 15th January this year, I received a letter from Mr Hoon, ruling out any Government Funding to deliver the big bang expansion of the Metrolink to Rochdale, Oldham and Didsbury. He claimed that no funds would be available so quite why he arrived to announce this decision was simply farcical. Yes, the Government have agreed to bring forward £200 million that was promised to us anyway. This exciting scheme is being delivered without any extra Government cash. It will be met by the people of Rochdale and Greater Manchester coming up with about an extra £2 per person on their Council Tax for six years and Local Transport Plan cash.
People criticise the ‘City-Region’ style of governance, but surely this is as good example as any of the need to work together more. Here in Rochdale and across Greater Manchester, we have shown that we are capable of putting political allegiances behind and work toward the best deal possible for our areas.
Each Council Leader has worked towards prioritising schemes to benefit their areas. In our case, our Council Leader Alan Taylor has negotiated the long-awaited Metrolink for Rochdale Town Centre. This will be the final piece in our jigsaw, our regeneration plans here in Rochdale are taking shape - with developers now competing to spend £200 million completely redeveloping our Town Centre, our new bus station and with work on our brand new Sixth Form College already started, things are looking up! Metrolink will deliver the integrated transport system that has long been our ambition.
I continue to work hard as the Chair of the All-Party Group on Light Rail, although we have been quite quiet in the public arena recently, we have busy behind the scenes since the last meeting in February. We have had a private lobby lunch with the Under Secretary of State for Transport, Mr Paul Clark MP about TramTrain. This was followed up with a meeting with several senior members of the Dft TramTrain team to highlight a number of issues. This will be followed up shortly with a follow on meeting with the Minister and his Policy Team.
Our next meeting is on the 23rd June from 4pm – 6pm where we will have a presentation sponsored by Alstom in the Strangers' Dining Room. The Under Secretary of State, Mr Paul Clark MP has been invited to be our guest. This is invite only and places are filling up. From spring 2010, we will have a different type of meeting broadly along the lines of a 'Select Committee’ and I would like to hear from any of you who wish to give evidence in a professional manner in support of Light Rail.
If you would like to join our mailing list for future meetings from October, please contact my colleague Jim Harkins from the All Party Parliamentary Light Rail Group at lightrailuk@aol.com.