‘Andy Burnham was always late, now I’m Greater Manchester mayor I understand why’

Greater Manchester mayor Bev Craig has been discussing tram extensions, face coverings in town centres and the tourist tax

Metrolink extensions, banning face coverings and the newly introduced tourist tax have all been discussed by Bev Craig.

The Greater Manchester mayor was quizzed on all the big topics on residents’ minds during her appearance on BBC Radio Manchester’s ‘In the Hotseat’. Straight away, Ms Craig was asked for a progress update on when the tram lines will be extended to Stockport and Heywood.

Both tram extensions were announced last year when former Chancellor Rachel Reeves made a commitment to pay for the project.

The East Didsbury line would connect to Stockport via Cheadle. The Heywood line would connect Bury and Rochdale and then loop back through Shaw towards Oldham.

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Both are expected to become tram-train lines. Tram-tains are fully electric, using overhead wires like trams for power on some sections of track, and batteries on other stretches.

Bev Craig explained to radio host Mike Sweeney that transport bosses are moving along with business cases for both.

“We’re in the process of making the case stack up, planning the route and looking at how we deliver it,” she told listeners. “It’s the same for the extension in the north of the city-region.

“We’re moving along and when we’ve got a date you’ll be the first to know.”

She added: “It frustrates me that these things take a long time, but it’s a work in progress and we hope to get it there.

“We’re having to make the case about how we fund it and the route it goes. When you’re putting a new route in you’re having to move around all the things that already exist.”

Some listeners were asking when Heywood would get their extension – which the mayor has spoken to Heywood and Middleton North MP Elsie Blundell about recently. Ms Craig said to expect an announcement later this year.

Local transport infrastructure could also be improved through a new ‘tourist tax’ announced by the government this morning, Ms Craig said. Regional mayors would have the power to introduce a nightly levy, according to plans unveiled by housing, local government and communities minister Angela Rayner.

Currently, there is a tourist tax of £1 per night, per person in Manchester.

Ms Craig said: “When you go away for the weekend, particularly across Europe, it’s a fairly normal thing. The reality is that this charge lets us put that investment into the services that we need to keep the city clean, the trams moving, plan for the future and make sure the money we get for our local residents.

“The key thing for me is, particularly for those more budget conscious, I think that this percentage is a good move. Because if you pay less per night then your charge is less per night as well.”

More double trams, more frequent trams and better roads for locals are all benefits this tourist tax could help fund, the mayor added.

Asked if Greater Manchester would introduce a ban on face coverings in town and city centres, Ms Craig said she was supportive of the idea. The question came following the recent ban introduction in Nottingham city centre.

She said: “I don’t logically see the reason for people walking around city and town centres with balaclavas on. I don’t see the rational for it.

“I think it’s really complicated. At the minute you’d need a by-law in every single council.

“Manchester has looked into something similar but that challenge around enforcement, without national legislation, makes it more complicated.

“It means you could fine somebody, but the police wouldn’t be able to take it off them – unless there was a crime going on. I would be supportive, but I think this is something the government has to look at nationally as well to back up our police forces.”

She added that those wearing a face covering for religious observance or for medical reasons would be exempt from such a ban, if it was to be brought in.

During the radio phone-in, Ms Craig said everything is ‘full-steam ahead’ with the Old Trafford regeneration plans, with announcements on the major scheme coming soon. Thousands of new homes, jobs and a revitalised Old Trafford stadium are all mooted in the project.

The mayor also threw support towards her successor as Manchester council leader Garry Bridges. The politician she succeeded as mayor, Andy Burnham, also got a mention as she talked of dealing with the added fame of her new job.

“I thought I’d be able to get the tram as normal and go about my life,” she told listeners. “That didn’t really work out. I thought Andy Burnham was really popular because he was Andy.

“I thought surely it doesn’t take that long from A to B. So I used to be annoyed with Andy because he’d always be late for things.

“Now I’m a bit late because if people stop you in the street you’re not, not going to talk to them.”