HATTERSLEY railway station is to get a £500,000 facelift with a refurbished ticket office.
Tameside Council’s executive cabinet has agreed to spend £571,000 of combined authority funding for the second phase of the Hattersley station project.
The funding will be awarded to Northern Trains for the construction and commissioning of the redevelopment of the ticket office.
Originally the council had aimed to provide a new ticket office at the station but in order to keep costs within budget they have instead had to choose a ‘hybrid scheme’.
This will see the existing ticket office at the Hattersley Road West station refurbished and a new extension built.
Councillor Oliver Ryan, cabinet member for finance, told the meeting: “It’s really important that this is done now, and the work kicks off on this.
“Councillors in Longdendale and in Hyde Godley have been supportive of this scheme and know the transport pressures in the area and this is us trying to bring a solution to part of that.
“As well as trying to future-proof this part of the world for future development and for accessibility to Manchester and further afield.
“It’s a good news story and I hope that people welcome it.”
The funding, which is part of a £750,000 grant from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, has to be spent by March next year.
Separately council chiefs are also planning to provide a new bridge for pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders across the railway to provide access to the station.
Jayne Traverse, the council’s director of growth, said: “This is another piece of the regeneration of Hattersley.
“The project will be closely monitored to ensure full draw-down of the funding through the combined authority.”
The first phase of improvements at the station which were completed in 2016 saw the realignment of Hattersley Road West passing immediately outside the station ticket office and new bus stops provided opposite the station.
A new car park with capacity for 42 spaces covered by enhanced CCTV was also created which has since seen the number of people parking at the station greatly increase.
Between 2015 and 2019, annual passenger numbers at Hattersley have more than doubled from just under 52,000 to 111,000.
Hi. I run the Friends of Hattersley Station group which I formed 11 years ago (before the update of the old station layout).
For many years, I have been pushing for a store room for our tools and equipment plus access to a toilet – not fun having to hide in the bushes when we are working!
I store everything in my two sheds at home and have to haul everything backwards and forwards on work days. Not fun!
We haven’t seen the latest plans for the ticket office, so don’t know whether storage for our group has been included.
As our volunteer hours are costed at around £12 per hour, over a period of 11+ years our group must have saved TfGM and Northern a fortune so including a storeroom and/or a toilet should be easy at the planning stage.
I understand the need for security due to ticket sales so all that is needed is a secure room with no access to the fare dispension part of the office and only accessible from the outside via a secure steel door.
Not an impossible task is it?
I would appreciate your input re this request as I’m getting really fed up with all the stonewalling that is going on.
Oh, just an aside here. After 11 years of asking for something to be done re the drainage problem caused by the water ingress on the upper slope of the overhead tunnel which was a very real danger to passengers during the winter when it froze, it only took one visit from a Senior Manager from Northern to get a proper drainage part installed.
Surely if you all worked together it wouldn’t take much to do what I ask on behalf of my dedicated team of volunteers?
Would you work for free in such conditions? No, I thought not!