Battle to keep bids for new stations on track

Funding for two new stations has been denied

The Department for Transport (DfT) says a final decision will be made next month on whether Treasury funds are provided for new stations at Low Moor, Bradford, and Haxby, near York.

But the DfT confirmed its official “frontrunners” to win money from its £20m New Stations Fund are currently projects in Derbyshire, south Wales and east London.

The Yorkshire Post revealed last month that bids to the fund had been massively over-subscribed.

Transport bosses in Yorkshire last week provided further information to the DfT and Network Rail in the hope that officials can still be persuaded to support the region’s bids ahead of next month’s final announcement.

York Outer MP Julian Sturdy said he was “disappointed” at the decision not to shortlist the Haxby scheme and pledged to meet with Transport Ministers in an effort to sway their decisions.

The Tory MP suggested the application from Labour-run York Council was “not quite up to scratch” and called on its officials to “work closely” with Network Rail to convince officials of the merits of the Haxby bid.

“I was disappointed to hear the council’s application was not quite up to scratch to achieve funding for a station at Haxby in the first round,” Mr Sturdy said.

“I, for one, will continue fighting for a new station, as I believe it would benefit my constituents enormously.

“I am meeting with Transport Ministers to discuss Haxby and Wigginton station in greater detail, and I will do all I can to convince them of its many merits. In the meantime, I hope the council are working with Network Rail to bring their funding application up to scratch.”

Reopening a station at Haxby has been discussed locally for more than 20 years, without a shovel ever making it into the ground. The village had its own station for almost 100 years before it closed in 1930.

York City Council remains optimistic that its bid may yet get the green light when the DfT makes its final announcement next month.

The authority said it has not yet received any formal response from the DfT, and recently handed over further supporting documents for consideration.

A spokeswoman said: “Network Rail has not formally announced the result of the bid to York Council. There was an indication by the DfT that three named stations were likely to be taken forward, but the formal announcement would follow in May.

“The council is expecting other stations to be included in the final announcement.”

West Yorkshire transport body Metro said was also hopeful that the decision to shortlist stations in Ilkeston, Newport and Walthamstow was not the end of the story.

A spokesman said: “Metro considers that, in Low Moor, it has a strong case for funding and a successful award would enable us to proceed with plans and deliver those benefits more quickly.”

A DfT spokesman confirmed “other bids” could yet get the green light next month.

He said: “While the department has identified three bids as the frontrunners for the New Stations Fund, work will continue to identify other bids which could be developed as part of the scheme. We are committed to working for the benefit of passengers, and expect to make an announcement in May.”