Sheffield to Manchester tunnel developer 'delighted' by Mayor Coppard's support
“We are honoured that people are putting their trust in us.”
The company behind plans for a tunnel beneath the Peak District connecting Sheffield and Manchester has said it will begin ‘shaping the design’ for the project later this year.
Future Works Infrastructure Ltd’s proposals continue to build momentum after the South Yorkshire Mayor, Oliver Coppard, said he was ‘excited’ by the idea.
Micheal Dnes, co-founder of Future Works, said: “We are delighted that Mayor Coppard is as excited as we are about the potential for a tunnel. And he’s in good company amongst the people of Sheffield and South Yorkshire – we’ve had a huge range of people who have said how keen they are for us to fix this gap in the map.
“We are honoured that people are putting their trust in us, and we recognise just how important it is that the project we bring forward respects both the people living by the route and the landscape through which it passes. We look forward to working with local residents later this year to start shaping the design.”
Future Work’s idea to connect South Yorkshire and Greater Manchester is estimated to cost around £2billion, using a ‘drill-and-blast’ method commonly used in Norway.
It is a considerably cheaper alternative to the technique previously used in an assessment by the UK Government, which was eventually dismissed on cost and environmental grounds.
Speaking during a South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) Board meeting last week, Mayor Coppard said Future Work’s proposal ‘presents a really exciting opportunity’.
He added: “We all know the frustrations of travelling between two of the North’s biggest and best cities.
“It is imperative that we improve transport links between South Yorkshire and Greater Manchester, both for economic growth but also because of a host of other reasons.”
The Mayor said that if the project was to go ahead, it would come with a ‘whole host of conditions’ including on wildlife and nature, which he said would be ‘paramount in our concerns’.
Future Work’s idea to improve travel across the Pennines includes better rail connectivity between Penistone in Barnsley and Manchester. The company also said the tunnel project could be delivered without investment from Westminster.
Mayor Coppard said he hoped the Prime Minister, former Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, would offer his support.