Plans to revamp the A6 will be a 'free for all' for cyclists who will be sent down 'dangerous' back streets, a councillor has warned.

Stockport Council and Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) are planning to improve bus journeys along Wellington Road North in a £15 million scheme, funded by the Greater Manchester City Region Transport Settlement.

Cycle lanes are set to be created along streets to the east and west of the main road, with 1.1km of new bus lanes between the boundary of Manchester and Stockport town centre.

But active travel campaigners are calling for segregated cycle lanes directly on Wellington Road North.

Councillors from Stockport's Communities and Transport Scrutiny Committee raised concerns about the plans at a town hall meeting on September 2.

Cllr Matt Wynne, vice chair of the committee, criticised the design of the A6 Corridor for sending cyclists down an "industrial estate" past an abattoir on Lower and Higher Bury Street.

"It's being very generous calling it an industrial estate," he added, "it's just a free for all on there."

"Nobody uses it, it's dangerous, there's no natural surveillance. I'm really shocked that we've got all this good work with the Interchange and we're wanting to contrast it with putting cyclists – women and kids – up past a working abattoir, past numerous commercial business units that are dangerous.

"It's not great at all. Is this the best we can do in Stockport? Sending people down a horrible industrial estate. These are the questions we've got to ask, we're asking to spend double digits of millions of pounds on crap infrastructure."

Proposed changes to the A6 by Stockport council (Image - Stockport Council / TfGM)

Cllr Grace Baynham, the council's transport lead, said further improvements could be made along the A6, including segregated cycle lanes, if more funding becomes available.

Mr Wynne said this would raise questions about the value for money of the scheme if the council redeveloped the road and then had to "dig it up" in the near future.

Mark Glynn, director of place management at Stockport council, said: "We're proposing to spend this money on introducing 1.1km of additional bus lanes which will speed up all the buses that run along this corridor for the foreseeable future for funding that's available now that needs to be spent by 2027.

"If there's additional funding available in the future for segregated cycle lanes along here, and that would need potentially more land, there would be more conflicts around parking in some places, and some of the loaders from residential properties and shops would have to be resolved.

"If all of that was doable then we would look to extend the scheme for segregated cycling. But there is currently no resource available to do that."

Cllr Baynham said a business case will be prepared for the plans to move it forward.

She added: "We'll introduce more crossings on the A6, develop cycle routes alongside and across the A6, and make journeys between Stockport town centre and Manchester city centre the smoothest, fastest and cleanest they have ever been.

"Over the past year, the council has completed significant design work and engaged with the public, leading to an agreed scheme presented at recent area committee meetings.

"The council is now moving forward with the outline business case stage of the funding process, eager to improve journeys for everyone using the A6 corridor."

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