Progress on A555 Relief Road - at last!

5.41.19pm GMT Wed 26th Nov 2008

Mark has successfully campaigned for the A555 relief road

Mark Hunter MP for the Cheadle constituency has welcomed the announcement that the Government is to provide £165 million towards the completion of the A555 Relief Road (Manchester Airport Link).

The Secretary of State for Transport this week announced that the Government would provide half of the money for the next phase of the Relief Road, specifically for the section between the Manchester Airport and the A6 to the east. This phase does not include the section down to the M60 at Bredbury, which is expected to be completed at a later date.

Local Lib Dem MPs, Councilors and residents have campaigned for the completion of this road for many years in order to provide better access to Manchester Airport for the 21 million passengers who use it each year and relieve residents from the traffic rat running that currently overwhelms residential roads.

Commenting on the news Mr Hunter said: "I welcome the announcement that £165 million will be provided towards the completion of the Manchester Airport section of the A555 relief road.

"I am pleased that the Government has finally recognised the strength of the case which we have been arguing for years. Local residents have put up with pollution and noise caused by the massive volume of traffic using residential roads to travel to and from the airport for far too long.

"Whilst this amount of money represents a little over half of the total cost, it is a very positive step in the right direction and I'm optimistic that the rest of the money will be found from other sources such as the Regional Development Agency. I know that the Council are already working on this.

"Given how long it has taken to get to this stage, what is now needed is for the Government to authorise the necessary public inquiry without further delay. A start to the actual construction on site cannot happen too soon."