Metro Mayor hints at new public transport connection to Liverpool Airport

Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram announced this week he wants to open three new Merseyrail stations by 2030. It is the first policy pledge of his campaign for re-election in May, for a third term.

During follow-up questions to his proposal to build new stations at Woodchurch on the Wirral, Carr Mill in St Helens, and Daresbury in Halton, Mr Rotheram hinted he might also have a solution for the age-old problem of travelling by public transport to Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

The nearest train station to LJLA is currently Liverpool South Parkway, three miles away. Commuters then need to catch the 80A or 86A bus service. It's convoluted process to travel to an airport crowned ‘best in the UK’ by Which? Travel.

It’s a similar situation for public transport access to Liverpool’s Anfield stadium and Everton’s new Bramley-Moore Dock stadium, neither of which are served by train stations in the immediate vicinity.

Speaking on X, Mr Rotheram said: “Watch this space for a solution to the airport and football stadiums.” However, the immediate answer is unlikely to be a new train station and he told the BBC in November that ‘alternative solutions’ were being explored.

In October, Mr Rotheram said plans to revive a tram network across Liverpool could be looked at again if transport funding was made real under a future Labour government.  The city used trams a century ago, with the first electric service operating from Dingle in 1898. However, the last tram ran from the Pier Head in 1957.

Plans for a new ‘Merseytram’ network were proposed in 2001, comprising a loop around the city centre, before heading over three lines, including one towards Liverpool John Lennon Airport. However, after infighting and soaring costs, the heralded plans were scrapped in 2013.

Speaking at an event on the future of the Liverpool City Region in October, Mr Rotheram, said: “We had the money before Manchester for a tram. Our local authorities couldn’t work together and we lost the money. We spent the money on rails but when we ended up selling them, we didn’t even get the money for them. We ended up fighting each other and lost the opportunity to steal a march on Manchester.”