Local rail campaigners say that they are 'shocked but unsurprised' to discover that proposals threatening Southport's direct link to Manchester Piccadilly have been described as unworkable by consultants who are part of the very body that put them forward.

A Department of Transport (DfT) led consultation gave three options which all resulted in the removal of the vital train service, leading it to be denounced by the 'Hand Off' Rail campaign as a stacked deck against Southport.

The Dft is the main agency in the Manchester Recovery Task Force (MRTF) which presented the options and there has been a virtual news blackout on the results of the consultation which closed in early March, and on the next stages to follow.

Now though rail campaigners have learnt that the consultants being used to help in the project, Steers, have effectively admitted that the DfT-led plan has hit the buffers, leaving government officials further exposed on the issue.

Local Labour councillors Greg Myers and Gordon Friel started the 'Hands Off' campaign and say it is about time that the government also realised that this was a highly flawed plan, as the danger was not fully over yet Cllr Myers explained:

"We are delighted, shocked but unsurprised that this plan has finally been recognised by some parties working on it for what it is - a simply unworkable and ridiculous idea."

"It was a stacked deck against Southport from the start and both Sefton Council and the Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram have already thoroughly rejected it. Of course, it does beg the question of how such a huge public consultation could present undeliverable options in the first place?"

"What is more important though is what happens next. This is the second time in recent years that this government and its officials have tried to remove this service by stealth, so what will they come up with next is the big question?"

Sefton Council's representative to the Liverpool City Region Transport Committee, Cllr Friel, added:

"The situation is even worse this time around because removing this service would cause further damage to the local economy at a time when it is already very fragile due to the pandemic. Not only that but it will actually go some way to undermining the funding which the Southport Town Deal Board and Sefton Council worked so hard to secure."

"The DfT's reluctance to properly tackle the congestion problems in the Castlefield Corridor is at the heart of this issue, once again they are trying for a quick fix to reduce traffic there at Southport's expense."

"What it actually needs is infrastructure spending and a proper management plan for a viable solution - not tinkering around the edges and threatening services to Southport, or any other town or city in the north for that matter."

Cllr Myers went on to say that the town's MP needed to "step up" on this issue and stop hiding the involvement of his government in the continued threat, commenting:

"We've been really happy to work with local rail passenger group OPSTA on opposing this threat, sadly we have not had the same cooperation from the town's Conservative MP."

"Despite us appealing for a united local front in opposition to this plan, what he actually did was fail to engage. Even worse, when we asked via his Facebook page for him to sign the online petition we'd started to raise awareness of the threat to the town, he not only failed to do so but the petition was removed from the page - twice."

"When I challenged his staff about deleting it, I was given the non-sequitur response that Damien Moore had written to the MRTF consultation. Some might think this hardly earth-shattering activity and it definitely didn't justify actively preventing local residents from being aware of the problem or the petition, which was aiming to show the strength of Southports opposition to this threat."

"It's astonishing that the MP would hide it from local people in this fashion, especially given he is also supposed to be working with OPSTA on this issue and this was an OPSTA-backed campaign."

"Writing a letter or not, or having meetings behind closed doors or not, if you are consistently hiding where the real threat is actually coming from as the town's MP does, then I'd suggest that you are not properly opposing it but are actually de facto assisting it."

"We realise that the MP does not want to draw attention to his government colleagues and their role in this continued threat but he must act in the best interests of the town, not his party publicity machine - even if he does have to be pressed to do so by others."

"What he needs to do now is step up and finally call out these repeated attempts by the DfT to help put a full stop to this threat. He must also make crystal clear that the next step should be a firm commitment from the Department for Transport that there will be no further attempt at removing this vital direct rail link between Southport and the south of Manchester and the towns along the route.

"It can't be a case of third time lucky for the DfT, as it would be nothing but misfortune for Southport."

An important issue, but as usual our useless MP, Damian the dumb, is not up to the task.

The alternative would be to bring Manchester City in line with all other cities by installing an underground system as has been proposed and even started on in the past. This would alleviate congestion on the railways in the centre of Manchester and allow a much faster connection for commuters. An underground system would be far more efficient for commuters to the Airport and other connections in view of the HS2 proposals. Half measures are not going to work - it will have to be all or nothing.

03/05/2021 12:44 PM Nash says:

Originally Posted by Nash

An important issue, but as usual our useless MP, Damian the dumb, is not up to the task.

Southport MP Damien Moore has a dilemma, here. He does not want to blot his copybook by taking a stand against the wishes of Ministers.

The recent prevous occasion, December 2019, Southport's passenger rail connection to Manchester Piccadilly was threatened, a (temporary) resolution was agreed.
What else happened that month?

Originally Posted by Nash

An important issue, but as usual our useless MP, Damian the dumb, is not up to the task.

The all too common response from the opposition, that of personal abuse - is not going to resolve anything, it only serves to show that those resorting to verbal abuse are unable to put forward any realistic ideas themselves.

One easy solution would be to cut back the 2 per hour service from Blackpool passengers also have the option to use various services from Preston as there is currently 6 per hour between the 2 towns.

Originally Posted by Nash

An important issue, but as usual our useless MP, Damian the dumb, is not up to the task.

And in all the years of Pugh talking about this, what did he achieve (or on anything for Southport) Not sure calling someone dumb regardless of political alignment is a good argument either.

03/05/2021 01:06 PM said says:

Originally Posted by said

The alternative would be to bring Manchester City in line with all other cities (??) by installing an underground system as has been proposed and even started on in the past. This would alleviate congestion on the railways in the centre of Manchester and allow a much faster connection for commuters.

...extravagant and improbable!

Andrew Adonis' joke on the Tories. I blame New Labour

said says:

Originally Posted by said

...An underground system would be far more efficient for commuters to the Airport and other connections in view of the HS2 proposals. Half measures are not going to work - it will have to be all or nothing.

HS2 has precluded many far more practical rail improvements. It will in all likelihood collapse before (even trimmed-down versions) are completed and rightly so, given the cost and adverse environmental impacts. An early draft of HS2 proposed a tunnel to Manchester Victoria station; that was an early casualty to fiscal realities.

Originally Posted by said

The all too common response from the opposition, that of personal abuse - is not going to resolve anything, it only serves to show that those resorting to verbal abuse are unable to put forward any realistic ideas themselves.

Priceless

Originally Posted by said

Arrogant Pr..!

Originally Posted by said

Let me know which asylum you are in and I will come and visit, G..sh..!

Oops, have we got an election coming?????

Originally Posted by said

The all too common response from the opposition, that of personal abuse - is not going to resolve anything, it only serves to show that those resorting to verbal abuse are unable to put forward any realistic ideas themselves.

Just let us know when our MP actually achieves something, rather than just jumping on every local bandwagon.

He was rated 611/650 in the last Parliament which is hardly impressive. No improvement since

Originally Posted by Nash

Just let us know when our MP actually achieves something, rather than just jumping on every local bandwagon.

In the spirit of balance, are you able to let us know what Pugh did in his 16 years other than:

1) vote for bedroom tax and other policies potentially unfriendly to his constituents (https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/11...ns?policy=6672)
2) vote with most coalition policies apart from Gay Marriage (as didn’t sit with his views)
3) rent an office off the local Lib Dem’s using his allowance to help generate additional income for the Lib Dem’s?

surely people voted for Lib Dem’s for more than just a protest vote with the odd petition thrown in around election times?

Originally Posted by Nash

Just let us know when our MP actually achieves something, rather than just jumping on every local bandwagon.

He was rated 611/650 in the last Parliament which is hardly impressive. No improvement since

How about Peter Dowd?

The ex Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury voted 602/650, not very impressive for someone whose been part of the Shadow Cabinet...