A SADDLEWORTH councillor believes the latest plans for the expansion of Metrolink will still leave Oldham borough a ‘public transport wasteland.’
Greater Manchester Combined Authority has hinted at a potential train–tram line around the Atom Valley development between the town and Rochdale.
However, Sam Al-Hamdani says the rest of the borough, including Saddleworth, has been ignored completely.
And any new line will not change the status quo.
The Liberal Democrat for Saddleworth West and Lees said: “Everyone knows that there is just one train station serving a borough of nearly 250,000 people.
“Oldham remains a public transport wasteland, and these plans will not change that.
“Train–tram lines mean that there is an opportunity to connect the train line that runs to the south of the borough up with Oldham town centre.
“We could use the tram to improve transport links and actually encourage people into the town centre, not make it easy for them to go somewhere else.”
A new tram line running north–south could also potentially provide better transport access to the Royal Oldham Hospital, which has chronic parking issues, and Boundary Park stadium.
But Cllr Al-Hamdani believes more needs to be focussed away from Manchester city centre.
He added: “Again, we’re getting the crumbs of Manchester’s table.
“The council is investing millions into Oldham town centre and if it doesn’t have plans to make it easier for residents to come to Oldham rather than other towns, then it risks throwing away millions we can’t afford to lose.
“Real regeneration means investing in transport. The billions of pounds that weren’t spent on HS2 should be being invested in projects like this.
“The last Government wanted to spend that money on potholes in London. Will this one invest it into actual transport solutions in Oldham instead?”
This is just more pointless self promotion from someone who clearly doesn’t use public transport regularly.
Once again we’re in the world of, “made up,” problems that don’t really exist.
Even without the Trains to and from Greenfield train station, Saddleworth is already served by fairly decent, regular and generally reliable bus services, (the 350 and the 356 between Oldham and Ashton and the 84 and 184 to Manchester,) and I should know because I use them regularly and without any problems.
Stepping back and considering the situation throughout Oldham as a whole there are a few dead spots and times, (mid morning and off peak times,) of day when the service is missing; but those are service issues (since the Bee network took over,) and not infrastructure ones.
Time to have a Park and Ride option at Diggle. Create a new station. Enough space in the old sidings for a third bypass track to allow express trains pass, and to have a large car park. To get buses into Manchester from Diggle can take over an hour and a half. A train from Diggle would take about half an hour.