Highway work and trial holes start this week at the new Cheadle station site. What unblocked it and what is still open for Ashley and Plumley.
The first work on Cheadle’s new railway station is due to start this week. Stockport Council says highway work near the site and trial holes will make up the first stage.
The scheme had been stuck for months over fears that an extra stop would delay trains on a busy stretch of line. The council announced on 29 September that the rail industry now accepts that risk can be managed. Its latest assessment says the delay risk “should not be considered as a reason for stopping further progress being made on the Cheadle project.”
Cheadle has had no passenger trains since November 1964.
What is starting now
The council says work on the highway near the station site can “finally start on site this week”. Its announcement describes this as the first stage, alongside trial holes, which are small excavations used to check the ground and find buried services before building.
Elsewhere in the same announcement, the council leader says the highway work can start “later this month”. Either way, work is due to begin now. The council has not published an opening date for the station itself.
The council says the progress followed “months of detailed technical work” involving:
- the Department for Transport
- Network Rail
- Northern
- Transport for Greater Manchester
- Stockport Council and local partners
Cllr Mark Roberts, Leader of Stockport Council, said: “This is a hugely significant moment for Cheadle and for Stockport. For years we’ve fought for this station because we know the difference it will make to residents, businesses and the future prosperity of the area.”
Brian Bradley, Chair of the Cheadle Towns Fund Board, called it “a fantastic milestone for Cheadle” and said residents “will soon start to see progress on the ground.”
What the station will be
Planning permission was granted on 30 October 2023 under reference DC/084801. The site is land at the Alexandra Hospital, Mill Lane, on the Chester to Manchester (Mid Cheshire) line.
The approved plans include:
- a single platform on the north side of the line, with covered waiting shelters
- a car park with electric vehicle charging spaces and accessible spaces
- secure, covered cycle parking
- a passenger drop-off area
- a new vehicle and pedestrian entrance from Manchester Road
- better walking and cycling routes on Manchester Road between Newlands Road and the site entrance
- replacement car parking for the Alexandra Hospital
Why it stalled
The station is paid for from the Cheadle Towns Fund. On 3 March 2021 the government offered up to £13.9 million for three Cheadle projects: the station, a north to south cycleway and walkway, and an eco business park at Bird Hall Lane. The council says the business cases were approved in July 2022, which secured the money.
The problem was the timetable. In a Westminster Hall debate on 18 March 2026, transport minister Keir Mather set out the concerns. The station sits on a single-track section that leads on to the congested corridor between Stockport and Manchester Piccadilly. He said an extra stop “risks delays for all services at Edgeley junction No. 2”.
Cheadle MP Tom Morrison told the same debate that the Towns Fund deadline had already been extended to March 2027 because of the delays.
The question still open: Ashley and Plumley
Ashley and Plumley are small stations further down the same line in Cheshire East. In March, the minister told MPs that reducing how often trains stop there was “the only way that an hourly stop at a new station at Cheadle could be accommodated”.
Mid Cheshire MP Andrew Cooper told the debate that modelling by Transport for Greater Manchester had proposed cutting Plumley, Ashley and Mobberley from hourly to every two hours.
The council’s announcement this week says the rail industry “recognises that more work will need to be done so that the removal of services at Ashley and Plumley is no longer required.” It does not say what that work is or when it will be finished. That is the part to watch: the site work can start, but how often trains will stop at Cheadle, and at the stations beyond it, has not been published.
What it means for you
- If you live or drive near the Alexandra Hospital and Manchester Road, expect highway work near the site from this week. The council has not yet published details of any lane closures. Check our Stockport roadworks page for confirmed closures.
- If you hope to commute by train from Cheadle, there is still no opening date or timetable. The MP told Parliament the train would take 18 minutes to Manchester Piccadilly and seven to Stockport, but those are his figures, not a published timetable.
- If you use Ashley or Plumley stations, no service change has been announced. The council says the industry is working so that removing services there is “no longer required”.
Further background is on the council’s Cheadle railway station page.
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