Extending Metrolink to Bolton not included in latest plans

Last week Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said that plans were in place to bring Metrolink services to Middleton, Heywood and eventually Stockport.

No such commitment was made for Bolton, but the town’s representatives say that other form of public transport can be prioritised.

Bee Network committee member Cllr Sean Fielding said: “While connecting Bolton to the fast, frequent and generally reliable Metrolink network would be welcome, anybody with even just an elementary level of appreciation of local geography can see it is a project that would be very expensive, disruptive and likely more than a decade away even if work were to start tomorrow.

“That said, bringing trams to Bolton should remain a long term ambition but reaching for this mustn’t distract us from quicker and cheaper improvements we could make to public transport locally.

Bringing trams to Bolton has long been a point of debate (Image: Newsquest)

“These should include improving capacity on the heavily congested railway line between Bolton and Manchester to accommodate more frequent stopping services, providing or expanding park and ride provision at local railway stations and improving bus priority on main corridors.

“Bury Road through my ward is particularly congested and the bus is not an attractive option when you just end up sat in the same traffic as if you were in your own car.

“Projects like these are much more deliverable much sooner than a tram line for which there is no agreed, or even obvious, route.”

The idea of bringing trams to Bolton has been a long-debated topic.

During the 2019 election the then Conservative transport secretary Grant Shapps said that if re-elected his government would invest millions in extending lines into Bolton and Stockport.

Since then, the now former Bolton North East MP Mark Logan repeatedly called for trams to be brought to the town.

In October last year the government announced it could be a project funded with a slice of £4 billion from the cancelled HS2 rail link.

But later that same week Prime Minister Rishi Sunak admitted that projects like this were only meant to be “illustrative” of what the money could be used for.

Earlier in the year, The Bolton News reported that a report by Transport for Greater Manchester had branded the scheme “poor value for money.”

The Restoring Your Railway report claimed that extending the tramlines along possible routes into the borough would cost far more than their value benefits.

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Speaking from the new Stockport Interchange last year, Mr Burnham said that an appraisal had been completed on Metrolink extensions to Middleton and Heywood.

He said that this would be published soon after this year’s general election.

But in the absence of similar proposals for Bolton, local representatives have recommended improvements to bus routes and train lines.

Cllr Fielding said: “We could be working up these simpler ideas now to put under the nose of the Labour government we are anticipating at the end of next week as they will almost definitely be looking for some quick wins on investment in the north of England.”