Garage owner fears new plans for train station will force him out of business

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

A car showroom boss says he believes part of the plans for a new railway station i n Cheadle will force him out of business. It was announced in July that Cheadle Towns Fund Board (CTFB) had been granted government funding for the new £9m station and £1m for a related package of walking and cycling routes.

In May a planning application was submitted for the proposed new single platform station, on the Chester to Manchester (Mid Cheshire) line off Manchester Road next to the Alexandra Hospital.

Council chiefs say it will be built in phases with the hope it can be completed 2025. The move, which will see Cheadle to be served by its own railway station for the first time in nearly 60 years and link it to both Stockport station and Manchester Piccadilly, has been widely welcomed in the area.

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A survey conducted on behalf of the CTFB found 87 percent of the people questioned supported the development of a new station, and that 66 percent said were likely to travel to it by foot and 13 percent by bike.

However, one nearby business owner says he believes a proposed new shared cycle lane and footpath into the station will make it 'impossible' for them to stay open and could also put road users at risk.

Daniel Maxwell Car Sales has been trading at their site on Manchester Road, just a few hundred yards from the proposed new station, for over 20 years and there have been family car businesses operating at the site for over a century.

Stockport Council says they have "secured funding to implement a substantial package of pedestrian and cycle improvements throughout Cheadle as part of the Cheadle Towns Fund" which includes a route linking Queen's