Kirklees Council are “awaiting a decision” on whether the Penistone Railway Project “can proceed” to the next step, a Freedom of Information request revealed.

Kirklees Council was awarded more than £100m of Levelling Up money in March 2024, with £47.9m set aside to upgrade the Penistone Railway Line, which runs from Huddersfield into South Yorkshire.

Yet, over two years after the announcement, an FOI submitted by journalist David-Dubas Fisher on April 2, 2026, revealed that only around £960,000 of the multi-million-pound budget had actually been spent towards the upgrades so far.

When asked about the official status of the project within the FOI, Kirklees Council responded that the project had reached its next stage and that a Business Case had been “submitted” to the Department for Transport (DfT).

Kirklees Council was awarded more than £100m of Levelling Up money in March 2024, with £47.9m set aside to upgrade the Penistone Railway Line, which runs from Huddersfield into South Yorkshire.

placeholder image — Kirklees Council was awarded more than £100m of Levelling Up money in March 2024, with £47.9m set aside to upgrade the Penistone Railway Line, which runs from Huddersfield into South Yorkshire.

The submission was made on March 31, 2026, with the council left “awaiting a decision on whether the project can proceed” to Full Business Case (FBC).

So far, it is understood that the budget has been spent preparing the Business Case in 2025, with the remainder set aside until the FBC is approved.

Once the FBC is signed off by the council, the funds will be officially released, and the project can physically begin.

The highly anticipated upgrades to the Penistone Line – a key route between Huddersfield, Barnsley and Sheffield – would see stations including Honley, Shepley and Stocksmoor receive a re-vamp.

The upgrades would also provide twice as many trains, running every 30 minutes.