THE new bypass finally being built at Mottram after six decades of campaigning can usher in a new collaboration of working between Tameside and High Peak.
But it is likely to stop short of Glossop and its surrounding areas joining the authority.
Spades are now in the ground on them £228 million A57 Link Roads scheme it is hoped will see one of Tameside’s biggest traffic black spots cleared.
While at one borough’s end, there has been much talk and conjecture about the effect it will have on Mottram Moor and the villages of Mottram, Broadbottom and Hollingworth, an existential question has been tagging at the other.
Should Glossop join the Greater Manchester Combined Authority?
Now work has started, High Peak MP Jon Pearce has revealed how the other side of Woolley Bridge – areas like the town, Tintwistle, Dinting, Hadfield, Padfield, Simmondley and Gamesley – will start working closer with the neighbours.
And Stalybridge and Hyde MP Jonathan Reynolds, whose constituency borders his, and Mayor of Geater Manchester Andy Burnham are set to play their part.
Mr Pearce said: “There’s been a final decision made pretty much in terms of there being a North Derbyshire Unitary Authority, which Glossop would be part of.
“But what I’ve been pushing for is to try and solve those cross-border issues.
“I’m very excited that the three mayors, Andy Burnham in Greater Manchester, Claire Ward in the East Midlands and Oliver Coppard in South Yorkshire, have agreed to come together for a summit in High Peak to look at them.
“I’m hoping that we will get some sort of peak partnership come out of that where we can start to resolve some of the transport issues, the health issues.
“And for once that would actually mean that High Peak was at the heart of discussions and projects rather than always being on the edge, so that could be a very, very exciting solution to some of the issues that I know people in Glossop and High Peak have been telling me about.
“We share lots of common interests in terms of where our residents go to work, where they go to hospital, the roads they use, the public transport they use.
“Jonathan and I have committed to looking at how we solve issues in Tintwistle, Hollingworth or Glossop to make sure that we don’t continue to get congestion at that end as well.
“We work incredibly closely because it’s absolutely vital that no matter who neighbouring MPs are, where you have common cause it’s much more effective to work together.
“The big issue is that we’re on the edge of the East Midlands, so that often means that we’ve not really been a priority there.
“We’re on the edge of Greater Manchester, so we’ve not been a priority there and we’re on the edge of South Yorkshire as well, so we’ve not been a priority there.
“There is always that risk that we fall between the gaps and obviously as a local MP I’m absolutely determined that we get our fair share that when we’ve got projects and we’ve got issues that I have the ability to pull levers and to get people to pay interest.
“I think this peak partnership has huge potential for us to actually do that and that starts to solve some of the problems that I’ve been talking about. I think that will be a big moment in the summer.”
Mr Pearce and Mr Reynolds attended a ceremonial event on Friday, May 23 as ground on the A57 Link Roads was broken.
And after hearing many similar moans from people at the other end of the project, he knows how much it is needed and how long people have been waiting.
He added: “For all my residents who commute into Manchester, go to football in Manchester, go to hospital in Manchester this is a vital part of making their life easier.
“Anything that we can do to make life easier ultimately means business is more productive. If we can get traffic flowing, it’s good for our economy and it’s good for people’s lives.
“It’s massively needed. I knocked on a door during the general election campaign and a woman told me that when she bought her house, it had come up on the returns that there was going to be a bypass – she bought her house in 1964.
“The original bypass was obviously a full bypass through to Sheffield and this is only half of that, so there is still more work to be done and we’ll keep working at that but we can’t get away from the fact that it’s a brilliant project and it’s fantastic to see it start.
“Anybody that’s tried to travel from my constituency into Greater Manchester will tell you it’s an absolute nightmare.
“It’s desperately needed, it’s brilliant that we’re delivering it.”