Stockport Railway Station

Lisa Smart Excerpts

Friday 16th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Lisa Smart (Hazel Grove) (LD)]

I am grateful to my constituency neighbour for giving way in this really important debate. I started my journey to the Chamber today at Stockport station. I completely agree with his comments, but I wonder whether he would go further. Our ambition for accessibility on our railway network needs to expand beyond the mainline stations. Stockport is an extremely important station for my Hazel Grove constituents, but we need to ensure accessibility at stations such as Woodley, Rose Hill Marple and Romiley so that all passengers can access our railway network, not just those who have two legs that can get them up a steep slope.

[Navendu Mishra]

I agree entirely. To go back to my previous point, if we want people to use public transport, we need to offer services that match their needs. I lived in Hazel Grove for several years, and I know the stations that the hon. Lady mentions. I agree that Stockport is a large station—it had almost 4 million entries and exits in the last reporting period—but we should not overlook the smaller stations. Unfortunately, over the last few decades, the north and north-west of England has been overlooked when it comes to transport investment. I agree with the hon. Lady, and there is a lot to be said about people commuting from smaller stations to larger stations and getting connections to Manchester airport, Birmingham, Cornwall, London or even Scotland.

Disabled passengers too often face faulty lifts and have no way to access the platforms, and that problem is persistent across my constituency. Sadly, three out of five rail stations in my constituency—Brinnington, Heaton Chapel and Reddish South—do not have step-free access, and I want to see that addressed as soon as possible. It is simply unacceptable that disabled passengers, parents with pushchairs, older people and people who are less mobile than us are excluded from using their local stations with dignity and ease.

I want to put on the record my thanks to Nathaniel Yates, a local champion from the Reddish part of Stockport —I think the hon. Member for Hazel Grove (Lisa Smart) has met him—who has done a lot of work on step-free access at railway stations, not just in Stockport but across Greater Manchester.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Simon Lightwood)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Stockport (Navendu Mishra) on securing the debate and providing the opportunity to discuss Stockport railway station. I thank the hon. Member for Hazel Grove (Lisa Smart) and my hon. Friend the Member for Hackney South and Shoreditch (Dame Meg Hillier) for their interventions.

Let me start by talking a little bit about this important train station. Stockport station is a vital transport interchange in south Greater Manchester. Sitting on the west coast main line approach to Manchester Piccadilly, it provides access and connectivity across the country to commuters, leisure travel and freight. On average, 501 passenger and freight trains pass through the station per day. That is 10,000 paying passengers a day, with 5,000 to 6,000 passing through the station.

The industry is working collaboratively to engage with local stakeholders who have concerns and a vision for the station. Network Rail’s engagement with local stakeholders is fundamental to shaping plans for the future of the station, and it will continue to welcome input and to be transparent about timescales and issues as they arise.

The Stockport corridor is critical for a range of express, regional and local passenger services and freight. It supports some very important flows nationally as well as offering a key destination in the interchange hub at Stockport station itself. The route from Stockport into Manchester is very constrained, which means that it is extremely difficult to plan any additional services through it reliably. While other interfacing schemes might increase capacity and capability elsewhere on the network, the constraints at Stockport act as a bottleneck when trying to uplift service frequencies overall. Network Rail and the industry are working through the options to address capability and capacity, working with mayors and transport authorities on what future plans there could be for the Stockport corridor.

[Lisa Smart]

The Minister is talking about the assessment of various options. We know that the Treasury is looking at reviewing the contents of the Green Book that measures the benefits and disbenefits of any capital spending. Can he say a few words on how we can ensure that the north, particularly the Stockport area, gets its fair share of capital spending in the future to ensure that existing inequality is not baked into the calculations that the Treasury makes?

[Simon Lightwood]

We obviously want to see growth in every corner of the country, and we are awaiting the spending review outcomes, as is everybody else.

We are aware that our partners will have their own priorities for the future of railways in their areas, and we are open to engaging with them directly on their plans. The core aim of the Stockport station redevelopment scheme is to support future increases in rail patronage and green travel and to drive clean and sustainable economic growth. It will improve the accessibility, attractiveness and useability of Stockport station and reduce town centre severance.

There is an opportunity to leverage a package of works through the Greater Manchester authority’s sustainable transport settlement funding for delivery by March 2027, which would include a refurbishment of platform buildings, with a focus on platforms 1 and 2. Stockport council, Network Rail and Avanti are meeting today to further scope out that work. Avanti West Coast has funds available for the current financial year to undertake works at the station, which will focus on staff facilities that need upgrading and some accessibility enhancements. We will share further information as those plans are developed.

I thank the hon. Member for Hazel Grove for her intervention, and I will touch on Passenger Assist. Avanti has seen a significant increase in passenger assistance over the last 12 months, and it is now reviewing its Passenger Assist process so that it can meet the needs of passengers on that service.