The government has been accused of being “up to its old tricks” by trying to remove Southport’s direct Manchester Piccadilly rail service for the second time in recent years.
It comes after the Department for Transport (DfT) issued a consultation on services which it’s claimed offers little real choice in the matter for the town. Local residents are being asked to respond strongly to the proposals making clear their objections.
Local councillor Greg Myers says that the three options offered in the consultation all result in Southport losing the vital Piccadilly service, describing it as another “con trick” on residents and commuters. He explained:
“In 2018 the DfT was exposed after Freedom of Information requests revealed it had actively conspired to deliberately mislead Southport rail users when it first tried to get rid of this service.”
“It was eventually forced to climb down by the efforts of local rail campaigners, the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and a group of Labour MPs, including Lisa Nandy who gave details of the planned deception to Parliament.”
“It seems that now a few years have passed the Dft is up to its old tricks and is back to try and finish the job with this supposed consultation, which is little more than a stacked deck against Southport.”
“Not one of the options offered sees the direct Southport to Manchester Piccadilly service remain, it’s another con trick on local residents and must be strongly resisted.”
“It simply beggars belief that a service that was only fully reinstated in December 2019 after a lengthy process that proved its worth is now under threat again from government.”
“I’ve already raised the matter with the city region and Sefton Council who are once again very supportive of Southport after pressing the case last time, as are the Labour MP’s, and I am also calling on Southport’s MP to work with them to ensure Southport doesn’t lose out.”
“Sadly, when the deception plan was exposed last time, instead of demanding answers about it and defending local commuters on the matter, Southport’s Conservative MP chose to rush to the defence of the Secretary of State for Transport. That simply can’t happen again.”
“The best way to deal with this is a united front and I’d appeal to Southport’s MP to help ensure that this threat from his colleagues in government is removed from the town’s Piccadilly service by supporting the local authority and city region in this.”
“I would also appeal to residents to respond to the consultation and making known their feelings over this threat to a vital transport link for the town.”
“It’s a simple email response that’s required and the address is contained in the consultation details.”
The consultation can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/timetable-options-to-improve-rail-performance-in-the-north-of-england
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