A lot was reported in the media last week about the Government’s major announcement on rail services, particularly around High Speed 2, and ‘Northern Powerhouse Rail’.

Here is a really useful summary briefing, from Transport for Greater Manchester on how the proposals affect the Greater Manchester area:

1. OVERVIEW 

The Government published the Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands which sets out a blueprint for the development of the strategic rail network over the next 30 years.

Please find key headlines below and a map of the network proposed by the IRP appended. 

2. HEADLINES 

• The IRP confirms the delivery of HS2 Phase 2b Crewe to Manchester, with high speed rail stations at Manchester Airport and Piccadilly. As per the 2021 Queen’s Speech, a hybrid Bill is expected to be deposited in early 2022.
  
• However, the IRP contains uncertainty over timescales and indicates that HS2 to Manchester may not be delivered until the early-to-mid 2040s, significantly behind the previously-expected timeframe.
  
• The IRP also provides for a new line between Warrington and Manchester, which would connect with the HS2 line into Manchester.
  
• Between Manchester and Leeds a new line will be delivered connecting the high speed station at Piccadilly to the existing Transpennine Route near to Marsden. However, the full Northern Powerhouse Rail connection between Manchester and Leeds via a new city centre station in Bradford is omitted.
  
• The Western Leg of HS2 between Crewe and Manchester will be delivered in full, with new high speed stations at Manchester Piccadilly and (subject to final agreement of a local funding contribution) Manchester Airport.
  
• Government is ‘minded to consider’ that a surface station at Manchester Piccadilly, integrating HS2 and NPR, should be retained in the Phase 2b Western Leg hybrid Bill design.
  
• The Golborne link, which would enable HS2 services to serve Wigan via the West Coast Mainline, remains in scope, but the forthcoming Union Connectivity Review will consider alternatives.
  Northern Powerhouse Rail: Liverpool to Manchester

• A new line will be delivered between Warrington and HS2 near to Manchester Airport. 

Northern Powerhouse Rail: Manchester to Leeds 

• Between Manchester and Leeds a new line will be delivered connecting the high speed station at Piccadilly to the existing Transpennine Route near to Marsden.
  
• The IRP describes this as ‘delivering NPR between Manchester and Leeds’, but this falls short of the aspiration of new high speed line all the way to Leeds with a new station in the centre of Bradford.
  Northern Powerhouse Rail: Manchester to Sheffield

• Work to improve the Hope Valley line is already underway, including line speed and capacity improvements. These works could help to facilitate a possible future third fast Sheffield to Manchester service each hour. 

Transpennine Route Upgrade 

• TRU will be delivered in full including electrification of the whole route, digital signalling throughout, significantly longer sections of three and four-tracking, and gauge upgrades to allow intermodal container freight services. This Government has stated that this will now constitute the “first phase” of NPR. 

HS2 Phase 2b Eastern Leg 

• The Eastern Leg of HS2 between East Midlands and Leeds will not be delivered in full (i.e. fully segregated new high speed rail line between Birmingham and Leeds via East Midlands Hub (Toton)).
  
• Instead, a new high speed line will be delivered from the West Midlands to East Midlands Parkway, along with electrification of the Midland Main Line to Leicester, Nottingham and Sheffield via Derby, and further investment on the East Coast Main Line from London to Leeds and the North East. 

Bury Council has been awarded Government money for two major projects in Radcliffe and Bury town centre. These were the two project’s that Bury asked the Government for money for.

Bury Market
£20 million is to be spent on Bury Market. The money is for a new flexi-hall and regenerate the surrounding area.

The flexi hall will comprise a large, state-of-the-art, carbon neutral, multifunctional events space that can support market stalls, ‘pop-up’ trading, live performance, and community events. The development will also include a café bar, an area dedicated to office functions, and space dedicated to the provision of workshops, co-worker space or small business start-ups.

Improvement works will incorporate refurbished market kiosks, improved access and servicing, and a new oversailing canopy which will cover the existing market and be highly visible from Angouleme Way, giving visitors a positive view of the space.

There will also be works to address repair and maintenance issues, as well as measures to improve the environmental performance of the market through enhanced recycling infrastructure, energy efficiency improvements and the decarbonisation of existing structures. Furthermore, all new-build elements of the design will be carbon neutral.

Radcliffe Hub
A further £20 million has been awarded to build a new Radcliffe Hub and create new facilities for local businesses and public services. Estimated to cost a total of £42m, with £20m from the Levelling Up Fund and the remainder from Bury Council and external sources.

• The main Hub building will feature a leisure centre with swimming pool, gym and fitness studios, a new library and skills centre, and a community space for meetings and events.
• Market Chambers – refurbishing all floors to ensure that this heritage building is preserved as a key feature of the town centre, to energy efficient standards and remodelled to support local businesses moving into it. 
• The basement of the Market will also be refurbished as a large events space for community and private functions and activities, served by a new accessible lift and including WCs, a Changing Places facility and an accessible balcony over the River Irwell. 
• New car parking facilities will also be created and improvements made to the wider public realm connecting this campus of buildings and the wider town centre. 
• The Carnegie Library will remain open to the public and operate as an Adult Education, Skills and Enterprise Centre – supporting local people into work and nurturing local start-ups and small businesses.
• Subject to design work and planning permission, work could start on site next September and be complete in summer 2024.

A huge thank you to the NHS and other staff who have now delivered 200,000 doses of Covid vaccine since the start of the pandemic. Thank you for all your hand work.

Bury is now involved in two vaccination programmes:

Covid Booster Vaccinations
You will be invited to receive your booster vaccine six months after you had your second Covid-19 vaccination. You will also be offered the seasonal flu vaccination at the same appointment.

Please wait to be contacted by your GP practice. The Covid-19 booster and flu vaccinations are by appointment only.

Your questions answered about the Covid-19 booster vaccine and the flu vaccine.

First and Second Dose Covid Vaccinations
Vaccinations are available for everyone aged 12 or over. Children aged 12 to 15 will be offered a first vaccination at their school (check the Council website to see if there is something different in place over half term). Young people aged 16 and 17 can get first vaccination at the same clinics as people aged 18 and over.

• Second doses are offered at 8+ weeks after the first dose. Patients may be offered their second vaccine earlier but only to avoid wastage or because of a specific medical condition. Second doses will not be brought forward for the purposes of foreign travel.
• Children and young people aged 12 to 17 will be offered a single vaccine, in line with current guidance.

Full information and a list of drop-in vaccination clinics

Masks in Secondary Schools
Bury Council wrote last week to parents asking secondary school pupils to wear face coverings when moving around school, and to take regular home Covid tests if they live with someone who has tested positive for coronavirus.

The move comes as case rates have risen in the borough, driven in the main by outbreaks in schools. There have been more than 800 cases related to schools since the start of September.

From last Monday, secondary pupils will be asked to wear face coverings when moving around the school. Face coverings lower the risk of spreading the virus if someone has the virus but does not have symptoms. Pupils will not need to wear face coverings while sitting at their desks, while eating or when outside.

Adults who are double vaccinated, and children, do not need to self-isolate if they live with someone who has Covid-19.

However, all students and staff members who live with someone who has Covid-19 are now being asked to take a daily LFT test before coming into school (unless exempt from testing). Pupils should start this testing from the day their household member either became unwell with Covid-19 or tested positive if they did not have symptoms, and continue this for 10 days.

The measures are to last for four weeks, and be reviewed on 1 November.

We’ve got two days left to have our say on the controversial ‘Places for Everyone’ plan before it is submitted to Government.

Places for Everyone is the new name for the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework, the plan proposes land for 165,000 more houses across Greater Manchester in the next 15 years. (To put that in context the whole of Bury added together currently has 77,000 houses.) In Bury the plan would mean the loss of 1,700 hectares of precious green belt land (countryside). 

The four big ‘sites’ for Bury are: 
– Prestwich/Simister/Bowlee – space for 1,550 new houses on what is now ‘green belt’ (it is farmland) to the north of Heaton Park (between Simister and Middleton). Plans include a new primary school. It is important to note that these proposals are slightly away from the existing Simister village (a small improvement on previous plans), but right up to existing homes on the Bowlee and Rhodes side. 
– a major area of employment/industrial development to the north of the M62 between Prestwich/Whitefield and Middleton/Heywood. Essentially this is a large area on the north side of the M62 from Simister island to the Heywood/Middleton junction on the M62. Half is in Bury, half in Rochdale. This will provide space for 1.2million square metres of industrial and warehousing build, and 1,000 houses on the Rochdale side. 
– 3,500 new houses near Radcliffe on existing green belt land (large area of countryside around around Elton Reservoir)
– 1,400 new houses near Walshaw on existing green belt land. 

The plan was approved by Bury Council (Liberal Democrat Councillors voted AGAINST), and will now be submitted to Government for its consideration, alongside all the comments we make.

Please take a couple of minutes to have your say before the deadline on Sunday 3 October 2021.

More information and how you can have your say here.

Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey MP has called on the Military Covenant to be extended to cover Afghan citizens, who have put their lives at risk to work for British troops and organisations over the last 20 years.

The Armed Forces Covenant protects UK military veterans and their families. Writing in the ‘I’ newspaper, Ed Davey has called for the Covenant to be extended to include Afghan soldiers and interpreters who have been working with the British forces in Afghanistan.

He says: “The UK owes a huge debt of gratitude to all the Afghan citizens who heroically took a stand and worked alongside our brave men and women on the ground over the past 20 years.

Without their selflessness, we simply couldn’t have achieved what we did and undoubtedly more lives would’ve been lost. It is only right that their huge contribution is recognised and rewarded.

We must start by ensuring all Afghan interpreters, and their families, are able to come to the UK. Now is not the time for arbitrary caps on refugees – unless we offer sanctuary they will be hunted down by the Taliban, and we will see a humanitarian crisis unfold before our eyes.”

Ed Davey will table an amendment to the Armed Forces Bill when it comes before Parliament and it is likely to receive widespread support.

The Liberal Democrats also want to see the Armed Forces Covenant expanded to include Afghans, particularly those who acted as interpreters, to ensure they are not disadvantaged as they look to build a new life here in the UK.

Greater Manchester’s new plans for housing development is back, with a new name of ‘Places for Everyone’. 

People may remember that the previous plans, called GMSF (Greater Manchester Spatial Framework) were abandoned last year when Stockport pulled out of the plans. Now the remanning nine Councils (including Bury) are pushing ahead with a joint plan, now called ‘Places for Everyone’. 

On the face of it the PfE plan is very similar to the 2020 GMSF plan, especially the detail for our area. The plan proposes land for 165,000 more houses across Greater Manchester in the next 15 years. (To put that in context the whole of Bury added together currently has 77,000 houses.)

The four big impacts for Bury are: 
– Prestwich/Simister/Bowlee – space for 1,550 new houses on what is now ‘green belt’ (it is farmland) to the north of Heaton Park (between Simister and Middleton). Plans include a new primary school.
– a major area of employment/industrial development to the north of the M62 between Prestwich/Whitefield and Middleton/Heywood. Essentially this is a large area on the north side of the M62 from Simister island to the Heywood/Middleton junction on the M62. Half is in Bury, half in Rochdale. This will provide space for 1.2million square metres of industrial and warehousing build, and 1,000 houses on the Rochdale side.
– 3,500 new houses near Radcliffe on existing green belt land (large area of countryside around around Elton Reservoir)
– 1,400 new houses near Walshaw on existing green belt land.

The attempt to mitigate the large loss of green belt land across Greater Manchester, this plan does create some new bits of green belt. Interestingly, in Bury, these are 14 small areas of ‘new’ green belt, most of which are in Ramsbottom and none in the south of the borough (Prestwich or Whitefield).

Why will the Liberal Democrats be voting against Places for Everyone?
Our view hasn’t changed. At every stage of the GMSF, and now under it’s new name of Places for Everyone, this is the wrong plan at the wrong time and we will do whatever we can to stop it.

It is still the wrong plan
Places for Everyone remains the wrong plan because it builds on our precious green belt land. Despite massive public opposition, Greater Manchester’s Labour-run Councils seem determined to build on green belt land. 

Bury’s Liberal Democrat Councillors recognise that we will need more homes in the Borough, and we want to build the high quality, affordable and energy efficient homes that people need, but not at the expense of losing our precious green spaces. 

During the Covid-19 pandemic, residents have been using our great outdoors for exercise and for good mental health. The last 18 months have told us that we need our open spaces more than ever.

Our precious Green Belt land must be protected with development restricted to existing sites, brownfield land (which there is no shortage of in Greater Manchester), and by breathing life back into our struggling town centres.

It is also the wrong plan because of the failure around infrastructure. Nobody has effectively answered questions about infrastructure and capacity for the Bury area. 5,000 new houses in Radcliffe and Walshaw is an awful lot more cars on the road, and a lot more people the Metrolink than now. Although there are plans for new tram lines and new roads in some parts of Greater Manchester, none of these improve either the Bury-Manchester tram line, or the A56 in Bury/Radclfife/Whitefield or Prestwich, so it is unclear how 5,000 houses worth of commuters are going to fit on the road or tram without causing even more congestion and even more air pollution.

It is till the wrong time
Just like the GMSF, Places for Everyone’s housing need numbers are still based on 2014 data and projections.  Anyone can see that projections made in 2014 should be confined to history. We are now in a huge economic downturn as a result of Covid-19 pandemic and we face the very uncertain future around trade and jobs after Brexit. Places for Everyone is out of date before it even written never mind published.

Places for Everyone is also already based on an outdated process.  The Government’s White Paper ‘Planning for the Future’ sets out the new way that local plans will be drawn up and new ways that housing numbers will be calculated. Almost as soon as the plan is completed we’ll probably have to start again under the new process.

The new development sites in Bury are in red above. The full plan can be viewed here.