News: Government decision on Rotherham mainline station "makes no sense"
The leader of Rotherham Council says that a government decision to put the brakes on a proposed new £30m mainline station in Rotherham "makes no sense economically or environmentally."
Rothbiz revealed earlier this month that the Government has confirmed that it will not allow the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) to use £8m from its City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS) for the project.
SYMCA and Rotherham Council have been developing a scheme to return mainline train services to the borough for the first time since the 1980s. A site at Parkgate is the frontrunner for a regeneration project described by experts as "a relatively straightforward scheme for delivery within three to four years,"
As well as £8m from the CRSTS, £10m has been earmarked to support the mainline station as part of Rotherham Council’s successful £31.6m award from the Towns Fund.
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Instead of the full £8m, Grant Shapps, Secretary of State for Transport has only allowed for £1m in this CRSTS period to be used to develop the Outline Business Case (OBC) for an integrated mainline and tram-train station. It means that further spend beyond this – and work on the ground – is delayed until 2027 at the earliest.
Cllr. Chris Read, leader of Rotherham Council, said: “This is an unexpected, disappointing and arbitrary decision from the government, kicking into the long grass the major upgrade that our local rail services needs. For us, this would be a significant investment to upgrade train travel, helping to take cars off the road and protecting our rail services from the potential worst impacts of HS2. But in national terms this should be a no-brainer; it’s a relatively small cost, with funding largely already identified, for a scheme that’s relatively easy to build, directly in line with what the government says its policy is.
“Nearly six months ago, I wrote to the Secretary of State urging him to support this scheme. And while I continue to wait for a reply, it seems that he has just decided to put Rotherham on the back burner again. It’s a decision that makes no sense economically or environmentally. We’ve already waited more than thirty years for the next mainline service for our borough, the arrivals board should be counting down the next two years now and instead we’re stuck in limbo.”
The region now waits on an update on the studies into taking HS2 services to Leeds, which could benefit Rotherham, that are expected in September.
Images: Northern Rail
Rothbiz revealed earlier this month that the Government has confirmed that it will not allow the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) to use £8m from its City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS) for the project.
SYMCA and Rotherham Council have been developing a scheme to return mainline train services to the borough for the first time since the 1980s. A site at Parkgate is the frontrunner for a regeneration project described by experts as "a relatively straightforward scheme for delivery within three to four years,"
As well as £8m from the CRSTS, £10m has been earmarked to support the mainline station as part of Rotherham Council’s successful £31.6m award from the Towns Fund.
Advertisement
Instead of the full £8m, Grant Shapps, Secretary of State for Transport has only allowed for £1m in this CRSTS period to be used to develop the Outline Business Case (OBC) for an integrated mainline and tram-train station. It means that further spend beyond this – and work on the ground – is delayed until 2027 at the earliest.
Cllr. Chris Read, leader of Rotherham Council, said: “This is an unexpected, disappointing and arbitrary decision from the government, kicking into the long grass the major upgrade that our local rail services needs. For us, this would be a significant investment to upgrade train travel, helping to take cars off the road and protecting our rail services from the potential worst impacts of HS2. But in national terms this should be a no-brainer; it’s a relatively small cost, with funding largely already identified, for a scheme that’s relatively easy to build, directly in line with what the government says its policy is.
“Nearly six months ago, I wrote to the Secretary of State urging him to support this scheme. And while I continue to wait for a reply, it seems that he has just decided to put Rotherham on the back burner again. It’s a decision that makes no sense economically or environmentally. We’ve already waited more than thirty years for the next mainline service for our borough, the arrivals board should be counting down the next two years now and instead we’re stuck in limbo.”
The region now waits on an update on the studies into taking HS2 services to Leeds, which could benefit Rotherham, that are expected in September.
Images: Northern Rail
4 comments:
All they have done is to ask the labour administration in Rotherham to put forward a business case.
It is a untruth to say anything else.
Why parkgate???.
The best bet is to route than though Rotherham Central,the nearer the get to the town centre the better.
Reason Rotherham central is out of question is that those lines aren't the mainlines,the mainlines go through,parkgate, masborough,to dual the Holmes cord to allow access through Rotherham central would be an expensive and logistical nightmare.I actually work on railway
Well Masborough would be better than parkgate.
The reason the Holmes cord was done was because at the time the council said that Masborough was to far from the town centre.
So why on earth is parkgate a suggestion,like I said the closer to the town centre the better especially with Forge island coming along.
After spending over £18 billion on the Elizabeth line down south the gov doesn’t have any loose change for this!
Levelling up my a*** !
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