Plans for a town to have its own railway station for the first time since the mid-1960s has been described as "tantalisingly close".
The proposals for Cheadle are now set to be reviewed by the government after Stockport Council's cabinet signed off the £9m scheme.
The project is the largest of three schemes bankrolled by the government’s Town’s Fund.
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The proposed new stop would be on the Chester to Manchester (Mid Cheshire) line next to the Alexandra Hospital, just 100m north of Cheadle High Street, the Local Democracy Reporting service said.
A related £1m package of walking and cycling improvements would provide access to the station and High Street and other routes, while a £4m eco-business park makes up the rest of the £14m Towns Fund schemes.
Efforts to deliver the station have been driven by a dedicated board including Mary Robinson, Conservative MP for Cheadle and town hall economy chief Councillor David Meller.
Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday night, Cllr Meller said: "I’m very, very, very hopeful to suggest that we will be successful.
"We have pretty much got a partial green light but we need a full green light now. And I’m fully expecting the government to give us that unless something dramatically changes. But I don’t want to put my neck on the line too much at this stage.
"To get this over the line would be a tremendous achievement.
"The opportunity we have had through the Cheadle Towns Fund and we have got through the Cheadle Towns Fund means we are on the cusp of delivering that pledge I made four years ago.
"As people will know Cheadle’s public transport connections are, shall we say, not particularly great but, through the potential of having a railway station back in the heart of Cheadle and undoing the work of Mr Beeching we have an opportunity to finally address this.
"To get this over the line would be a tremendous achievement. When we had this opportunity come about a couple of years ago, essentially I made my view in terms of not only do I want Cheadle to obviously benefit from this funding, but the whole of Stockport needs to benefit as well."
