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No decision on fate of station

5/ 3/2002

AN ASSURANCE has been given by Manchester City Council that no final decision has been taken to close Dean Lane Station on the New Moston/Newton Heath border.

It follows a warning from independent local councillor Damien O'Connor that the future of the station was in doubt because of plans to build a new transport interchange serving the proposed North Manchester Business Park at Thorp Road less than a mile away.

The new interchange will have one platform serving the rail line that links Manchester to Rochdale via Mills Hill and Moston and one on the present rail line from Manchester to Oldham, which is being converted to Metrolink operation.

Councillor Val Stevens, the council's executive member for planning and transport said: "We would like to emphasise that at present no final decision has been taken on this matter. The city council is obviously anxious to ensure that the pattern of stations on the new Metrolink line best serves the needs of local residents and businesses in the area that it passes through.

"The new gateway interchange offers the prospect of a high quality interchange between the new Metrolink line and the rail line to Rochdale. People will therefore not only have access to a more frequent and reliable Metrolink service, but will also have access to main line services either directly or by changing at Victoria and to frequent bus services serving the interchange.

"While we are pleased that Councillor O'Connor welcomes the improvements that the interchange will bring to local public transport we are disappointed that at this stage he should seek to concentrate on raising people's anxieties about the future of Dean Lane Station.

"It may be that at some future point it will be necessary for the city council to take a view as to priority between the two stations, but at this time no such decision has been formally taken or requested, so to imply that the council is acting in a "cavalier fashion" is far from the truth.