News: Rotherham waits on mainline station funding
The government is yet to confirm funding for Rotherham Gateway Station with the borough waiting on costed plans for Northern Powerhouse Rail and a 10-year Infrastructure Strategy.
The project involves a new integrated station on the mainline and a tram-train stop on land at Forge Way, Parkgate and aims to transform the regional and national connectivity of Rotherham, catalysing a new Innovation Campus around the station.
The scheme was described earlier this year as the number one project in the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority's (SYMCA's) submission to the spending review.
A number of other large transport projects were mentioned by chancellor Rachel Reeves and the Spending Review documents this week. In her speech she confirmed that an infrastructure strategy is being finalised and added that "in the coming weeks I will set out this government’s plans to take forward our ambitions for Northern Powerhouse Rail."
The previous Government's £96 billion Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands scaled back ambitions for Northern Powerhouse Rail, with Rotherham and Sheffield both missed off plans.
In 2023, as it axed HS2 reaching the North, the then government's "Network North" plan included a new mainline station for Rotherham that would be added to the route between Sheffield and Leeds, giving the town its first direct service to London since the 1980s.
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The new mainline station proposed for Parkgate is a Department for Transport (DfT) retained scheme, held back for further review or development before funding is released, so a business case for the project has been prepared in line with government guidance, including the requirements of the Treasury’s Green Book which has been updated to support place-based business cases.
The Government's City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS) (now renamed as Transport for City Regions) was identified for much of the next stage of the project - the development of a full business case which is expected to cost £11.35m.
Last week, £1.5 billion was confirmed for South Yorkshire but only buses and trams have been mentioned so far, despite SYMCA describing Rotherham Gateway has having "the potential to offer the most significant growth and regeneration opportunity across the North of England."
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Responding to the Spending Review, South Yorkshire’s Mayor Oliver Coppard said: "We’ve not seen the whole picture today. Next week, we’ll hear about the government’s plans for infrastructure, and I’ll be looking for a response to the proposals we put forward through the White Rose Agreement’s Yorkshire’s Plan for Rail, and support for some of our key industrial strengths, including our steel and hydrogen sectors."
Yorkshire’s Plan for Rail is a phased plan to fix Yorkshire’s broken railways, published by Lord Blunkett last month. For Rotherham the plans reiterate the need for a new mainline station given that the borough is currently poorly connected to the rail network, with the town centre served via a loop off the main line, and only having two stopping trains an hour.
Carrie Sudbury, Chief Executive, Barnsley & Rotherham Chamber, said: "A successful local and regional economy is built upon its transport infrastructure. Returning Rotherham to the main line will vastly improve connectivity to centres such as Leeds, London, Manchester and Birmingham whilst at the same time reducing journey times.
"The plan rightly identified that a rail journey must be at least 20% faster compared with a car journey to make in attractive alternative. At present it takes almost the same amount of time to travel between Rotherham and Barnsley via train, as it does to travel between Doncaster and Peterborough. Clearly this needs to change.
"We encourage the Chancellor to prioritise investment in South Yorkshire’s rail infrastructure, which in turn will bring about significant benefits for the local and regional economy.”
Images: RMBC
The project involves a new integrated station on the mainline and a tram-train stop on land at Forge Way, Parkgate and aims to transform the regional and national connectivity of Rotherham, catalysing a new Innovation Campus around the station.
The scheme was described earlier this year as the number one project in the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority's (SYMCA's) submission to the spending review.
A number of other large transport projects were mentioned by chancellor Rachel Reeves and the Spending Review documents this week. In her speech she confirmed that an infrastructure strategy is being finalised and added that "in the coming weeks I will set out this government’s plans to take forward our ambitions for Northern Powerhouse Rail."
The previous Government's £96 billion Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands scaled back ambitions for Northern Powerhouse Rail, with Rotherham and Sheffield both missed off plans.
In 2023, as it axed HS2 reaching the North, the then government's "Network North" plan included a new mainline station for Rotherham that would be added to the route between Sheffield and Leeds, giving the town its first direct service to London since the 1980s.
Advertisement
The new mainline station proposed for Parkgate is a Department for Transport (DfT) retained scheme, held back for further review or development before funding is released, so a business case for the project has been prepared in line with government guidance, including the requirements of the Treasury’s Green Book which has been updated to support place-based business cases.
The Government's City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS) (now renamed as Transport for City Regions) was identified for much of the next stage of the project - the development of a full business case which is expected to cost £11.35m.
Last week, £1.5 billion was confirmed for South Yorkshire but only buses and trams have been mentioned so far, despite SYMCA describing Rotherham Gateway has having "the potential to offer the most significant growth and regeneration opportunity across the North of England."
.
Responding to the Spending Review, South Yorkshire’s Mayor Oliver Coppard said: "We’ve not seen the whole picture today. Next week, we’ll hear about the government’s plans for infrastructure, and I’ll be looking for a response to the proposals we put forward through the White Rose Agreement’s Yorkshire’s Plan for Rail, and support for some of our key industrial strengths, including our steel and hydrogen sectors."
Yorkshire’s Plan for Rail is a phased plan to fix Yorkshire’s broken railways, published by Lord Blunkett last month. For Rotherham the plans reiterate the need for a new mainline station given that the borough is currently poorly connected to the rail network, with the town centre served via a loop off the main line, and only having two stopping trains an hour.
Carrie Sudbury, Chief Executive, Barnsley & Rotherham Chamber, said: "A successful local and regional economy is built upon its transport infrastructure. Returning Rotherham to the main line will vastly improve connectivity to centres such as Leeds, London, Manchester and Birmingham whilst at the same time reducing journey times.
"The plan rightly identified that a rail journey must be at least 20% faster compared with a car journey to make in attractive alternative. At present it takes almost the same amount of time to travel between Rotherham and Barnsley via train, as it does to travel between Doncaster and Peterborough. Clearly this needs to change.
"We encourage the Chancellor to prioritise investment in South Yorkshire’s rail infrastructure, which in turn will bring about significant benefits for the local and regional economy.”
Images: RMBC
6 comments:
It'd be just our luck for this to get dropped, but I hope to God I'm wrong.
Wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t happen or more likely get even further delayed
Is that the same God who allowed the plane crash in India to happen or a different one..?
Calm down.
It was merely a figure of speech. I'm an atheist.
Why do you need to make inappropriate comments in relation to the tragedy in India? It has nothing to do with the article and is offensive.
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