More thoughts on the Stockport Station investment boost...

http://www.stockportexpress.co.uk/news/s/1182896_station_among_worst_in_the_country

Much of the media coverage of the £50 million funding boost (see previous post) focused on the fact that Stockport has been officially branded as one of the ten worst major stations in the country.

Having mulled this over, we can't help thinking that this is another glaring example of Lib Dem ineptitude and inaction - none of us can remember any calls from the Council's leadership for the sorts of improvements that the Labour Government is now going to pay for.

To be fair, the Lib Dems have made noises about train services using the station (not to very much effect, though), but they have been very quiet on the grotty state of the station itself. Presumably they think it looks fine - this poor judgement possibly explains why the Lib Dem-run Council is so tolerant of the many grot-spots elsewhere in the town centre, and right across our Borough.

Also highlighted by the funding boost are the limitations of operating in a fantasy world of artists' impressions and planning applications that never seem to come to anything. For example, the need for much more parking at the station has been obvious for years, but all the Council has done is point to plans for a new multi-story car park as part of the stalled Grand Central re-development (see below). The drawback with this approach is that at some point you actually have to do something to solve the problem , or as in this case, the Government has to step in where the Council has failed.

Fortunately, in Ann Coffey and Andrew Gwynne, we have two excellent Labour MPs who put our case to the Government when the Lib Dems can't, or won't.