Support The Rochdale Oldham Manchester rail lines group

A Station for Slattocks

 

A STATION FOR SLATTOCKS

 

STORM (Support the Oldham, Rochdale and Manchester lines) is calling for the opening of a new railway station at Slattocks. This would serve the thousands of students and staff who travel to and from Hopwood Hall College's Middleton campus, the present and future residents of the area and the hundreds of people who are employed at Stakehill Business Park.

 

Slattocks Station would be the sixth railway station within the Rochdale borough. It is already named within the Transport for Greater Manchester 2040 strategy document and part of the Rochdale Rail Corridor Strategy.

 

Slattocks Station would be situated close to the Stakehill roundabout, alongside the A664 (Rochdale Road). The new station would be between Mills Hill and Castleton stations on the Calder Valley Line which runs from Manchester Victoria via Rochdale to Leeds and Bradford.

 

Both Mills Hill and Smithy Bridge stations were opened in 1985 as 'temporary experimental stations' and have both been huge successes, taking thousands of car journeys off the region's roads each year in the last four decades. A railway station at Slattocks will do the same. A recent STORM survey revealed that there are over 300 cars parked every day on Hopwood Hall College's Middleton campus; over an academic year that could mean over 100,000 car journeys along our roads! Slattocks could easily fit into the half-hourly “stopper service” between Manchester Victoria and Rochdale. The journey would be less than ten minutes from Rochdale Station, whereas the bus journey can be up to three times that duration at peak times. There are 19 bus stops between Rochdale Bus Station and Hopwood Hall College's Middleton campus on Rochdale Road. On the train from Rochdale there would be just one stop- Castleton – before the train reached Slattocks.

 

STORM are contacting local residents, schools, Hopwood Hall College board of governors members, staff and students and Stakehill businesses, as well as local councillors, the transport authority and the local M.P. to gain support for A Station for Slattocks. We are asking you to raise the matter at the next meeting of your organisation and agree to support the campaign.

 

For a useful guide to opening new stations, can we recommend Expanding The Railway which is available (and can be downloaded from) www.railfuture.org.uk/display1563. The document has been jointly produced by the Department for Transport, Campaign For Better Transport and Railfuture and is well worth reading.

 

The campaign has already received excellent coverage in Rochdale Online and the Rail NorthWest newsletter. We have held a meeting with the manager of Stakehill B.I.D. (Business Improvement District) to discuss the station and they are very supportive. We are building closer links with the Stakehill B.I.D and attended their business breakfast recently where we met local employers.

 

We hope that we can all move it forward to make A Station for Slattocks happen. Write to your MP, Rochdale Council and Transport for Greater Manchester and urge them to prioritise this.

 

For further information email: storm@rochdaleonline.myzen.co.uk

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A STATION FOR SLATTOCKS

STORM (Support the Oldham, Rochdale and Manchester lines) is calling for the opening of a new railway station at Slattocks. This would serve the thousands of students and staff who travel to and from Hopwood Hall College's Middleton campus, the present and future residents of the area and the hundreds of people who are employed at Stakehill Business Park.

Slattocks Station would be the sixth railway station within the Rochdale borough. It is already named within the Transport for Greater Manchester 2040 strategy document and part of the Rochdale Rail Corridor Strategy.

Slattocks Station would be situated close to the Stakehill roundabout, alongside the A664 (Rochdale Road). The new station would be between Mills Hill and Castleton stations on the Calder Valley Line which runs from Manchester Victoria via Rochdale to Leeds and Bradford.

Both Mills Hill and Smithy Bridge stations were opened in 1985 as 'temporary experimental stations' and have both been huge successes, taking thousands of car journeys off the region's roads each year in the last four decades. A railway station at Slattocks will do the same. A recent STORM survey revealed that there are over 300 cars parked every day on Hopwood Hall College's Middleton campus; over an academic year that could mean over 100,000 car journeys along our roads! Slattocks could easily fit into the half-hourly “stopper service” between Manchester Victoria and Rochdale. The journey would be less than ten minutes from Rochdale Station, whereas the bus journey can be up to three times that duration at peak times. There are 19 bus stops between Rochdale Bus Station and Hopwood Hall College's Middleton campus on Rochdale Road. On the train from Rochdale there would be just one stop- Castleton – before the train reached Slattocks.

STORM are contacting local residents, schools, Hopwood Hall College board of governors members, staff and students and Stakehill businesses, as well as local councillors, the transport authority and the local M.P. to gain support for A Station for Slattocks. We are asking you to raise the matter at the next meeting of your organisation and agree to support the campaign.

For a useful guide to opening new stations, can we recommend Expanding The Railway which is available (and can be downloaded from) www.railfuture.org.uk/display1563. The document has been jointly produced by the Department for Transport, Campaign For Better Transport and Railfuture and is well worth reading.

The campaign has already received excellent coverage in Rochdale Online and the Rail NorthWest newsletter. We have held a meeting with the manager of Stakehill B.I.D. (Business Improvement District) to discuss the station and they are very supportive. We are building closer links with the Stakehill B.I.D and attended their business breakfast recently where we met local employers.

We hope that we can all move it forward to make A Station for Slattocks happen. Write to your MP, Rochdale Council and Transport for Greater Manchester and urge them to prioritise this.

For further information email: storm@rochdaleonline.myzen.co.uk

Contact Information

STORM

Meeting Place: Woolworths Social Club
Gipsy Lane
Castleton
Rochdale
OL11 3HA

Meeting times

2pm

2nd Tuesday in Feb, April, June, August, Oct and December,in The Blue Pits Inn, 842 Manchester Road, Castleton, Rochdale, OL11 2SP