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Metro: it’s the end of the line

Adam Derbyshire
21/ 7/2004

ASHTON MP David Heyes is demanding an urgent meeting with transport chiefs after the government blocked plans to extend the Metrolink to Tameside.

Transport minister Alastair Darling pulled the plug on cash to fund the £520m development, which was set to include a 10km Ashton track running from Manchester Piccadilly to towns including Droylsden and Audenshaw.

The decision means there is no prospect of the line being built in the foreseeable future.

Mr Heyes said: "I am extremely disappointed. Ashton is already reeling from the impact of the market fire. Now as the town desperately tries to recover, it has taken another blow to the stomach."

"It will be an enormous waste of money if the entire project is scrapped."

"We do get the impression that spending on the Tube and expensive rail improvements in London and the south east tend to get priority."

"Fears have been raised over the escalating costs. I will be seeking an early meeting with Mr Darling to discuss the issue. If we can go back to the drawing board and trim the budget, then I hope to persuade the minister to give us the go-ahead."

Council chiefs are furious because much of the preliminary work is already well underway.

Dozens of families have already been evicted from their homes in Manchester Road and Ashton New Road. Bulldozers recently moved in to pave the way for the new line.

And residents in the Wellington Street flats - the site of the proposed Ashton station - spent a decade living with an 'axe above their heads', before eventually moving to modern new flats in Crickets Lane.

Rose Dixon, 85, was a tenant for 42 years. She said: "The Metrolink lurked in the shadows for 10 years. We lived from week to week, not knowing how long we had left. It was awful."

"We had a fantastic community spirit, which was ripped apart. Now it might not even be built. It's nothing short of a disgrace."