A555 saga: the end in sight? (From Community Newsgroup)

A555 saga: the end in sight?

4:57pm Tuesday 25th November 2008

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THERE was some good news for Stockport motorists in yesterday's pre-budget report with news of significant funding to complete the A555 'road to nowhere'.

£165 million of the one billion pounds worth of road building improvement's announced by Alistair Darling yesterday will be used to complete the A555 between Manchester Airport and the A6 in Poynton.

The ammount is, however, only half that needed for this section of the job, and is far less than the full totoal needed to complete the wider SEMMMS scheme, which would link Manchester Airport a wider Stockport 'ring road' with junctions at Poynton, Hazel Grove and onto the M60 at Bredbury.

Cheadle MP Mark Hunter and Hazel Grove's Andrew Stunell, who've both been actively lobbying tranport ministers for years to release fnds for the delayed project, said: "I welcome the announcement £165 million will be provided towards the completion of the Manchester Airport section of the A555 relief road. “I'm pleased the Government has finally recognised the strength of the case which has been so consistently supported by MPs from all parties. "Whilst this amount of money represents a little over half of the total costs, it is a very positive step in the right direction and We’re optimistic the rest of the money will be found from other sources such as the Regional Development Agency.

“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."

Stockport Council also welcomed the new: "We're looking at today's Ministerial announcement in fine detail," said a spokesman. "This is only half of the funding for half of the road that we need. This is a very complex project which involves not only Stockport Council but also Manchester City Council and Cheshire County Council as well as other organisations."

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