Cyclists' Home Page | Davenport Station | Cycle Stockport | Stockport Council Cycling pages
These supplementary cyclist's pages are for everyone who enjoy cycling around the south Stockport area, and especially those who attend the Stockport Council Cycle User Group meetings, which are freely open to all. New faces are always welcome.
Note: this is a strictly unofficial site, not connected with or approved by Stockport Council or Northern Railway.
Created and compiled by Charlie Hulme.
Hazel Grove Station - an opportunity missed
Parallel routes to the busy and dangerous A6 Road through Stockport are of great benefit to cyclists. One example is the route in Hazel Grove past Norbury church and Chester Road Allotments towards Chester Road and the railway station beyond.
This view looks down the shared route from the meeting with Chester Road. towards the Kingdom Hall and the Church. Usefully, Lighting is provided.
Turning the camera round, we see that the route has its own danger; the need to cross busy Chester Road to proceed across to Station Road, with very limited visibility, especially in summer, of vehicles coming from the right.
But if we look the left at the same point, we see a small gap in the fence (clearly used unofficially by pedestrians but too narrow for bikes) and beyond it a locked barrier.
Through the gap we see a cobbled road - possibly once used by coal merchants' vehicles collecting coal from rail wagons - leading down towards the car park extension with its recently-built deck.
This leads to a route underneath Chester Road towards the Cycle Hub and the station. From there, one can emerge on to Davenport Road, and at the end of that road use the shared path across a playing field to Green Lane, then via Grenville Road to Bramhall Moor Lane where, via a short walk across as pedestrian-only crossing there is the entrance to Stepping Hill Hospital grounds which (before 9pm) contain a through route to Ripley Avenue, then via Moorland Road and Woodsmoor Lane to the A6 adjacent to Stockport Grammar School.
So why has this route not been opened up for cyclists? We don't know, but it seems likely to be another example of Network Rail's obstructive attitude towards cycling provision in our area, which has also prevented the minor path widening needed to allow cyclists on the direct path from Ladybridge Road to Cheadle Hulme station, and their refusal to open up the bridge between Cromley Road, Woodsmoor and Ringmore Road until compelled to do so, and their aversion to 'wheeling channels' proposed on various footbridges. There are several places where paths alongside railways could be widened without any effect on the working railway, but Council staff seem to believe it's not worth trying.
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