Bid submitted for new Parkway station

Warwickshire County Council has submitted a bid to the Department for Transport to deliver Stratford Parkway Station, train service improvements and a package of transport measures to help people access the station sustainably.

The county council is leading a team, which includes London Midland, Centro and Network Rail, to deliver the landmark project which would see a new multi-million pound station built next to the Park and Ride. The bid is supported by rail users, potential passengers, both Stratford District Council and Stratford Town Council, Sustrans, the Shakespeare Line Promotion Group and Rail Future.

It is forecast that the project will attract 114,000 new rail trips to the new station and the existing town station by 2024/2025. The extra revenue generated will help fund more trains during weekdays, on Saturdays and provide a regular evening service to both Stratford stations.

The scheme made progress on Tuesday 19 April when it received outline planning permission from the county council's regulatory committee.

Cllr Alan Cockburn, Warwickshire County Council's Portfolio Holder for Environment and Economy, said of the scheme: “A successful bid will be fantastic news for Stratford. People have been pressing for evening services for Stratford town station for years and this package will make that possible.

“If we receive the funding, this scheme is going to regenerate the local rail network to the benefit of both stations in Stratford and have a positive impact on the wider economy."

People will be able to access the new station by walking, cycling and public transport which makes it a very green option. The scheme is projected to relieve the road network of almost four million vehicle kilometres every year. If the bid is successful, the new evening and weekend services will start in April 2012 and the weekday off-peak services will start on station opening in December 2013.

The bid is for £4,995,000 of Local Sustainable Transport Funding towards the total scheme cost is £8,866,000. The results of the first round of funding bids are expected to be announced by the end of June.

• The Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF) is a £560m scheme funded by Department for Transport (over the period
  2011 – 2015).
• The LSTF aims to support initiatives which address growth and carbon at a local level.
• Further details can be found:
  http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/regional/transportfund/
• The scheme will include a new Parkway Station, adjacent to the Park and Ride, a package of train service improvements (enhanced off-peak, evening and weekend train services), Smarter Choices measures (e.g. personalised or destination travel planning) and Station Travel Plan infrastructure (such as. cycle hire scheme and electric vehicle charging points, walking and cycling improvements).
• London Midland has worked with the Warwickshire County Council on the scheme business case and is happy with the proposal.
• The business case has a benefit: cost ratio of over 4: 1 · 140,000 trips are projected to be made from the new station from opening year.