Rail station near new hospital 'would be viable'

One of Cheshire's largest towns could get a second railway station under plans being looked into by a local authority.

A study by Cheshire East Council has found a station for the Leighton area of Crewe would be "viable", although the council said there would be "still a long way to go".

The station for Leighton - where a new £1.4bn hospital is to be built - would be on the existing Crewe to Chester railway line.

Mark Goldsmith, the cabinet member for transport, said the new hospital, housing developments in the area and a desire for expansion by local manufacturer Bentley Motors were "three good reasons to want to improve the local transport".

An initial feasibility report found there was "sufficient space and technical feasibility" for a new station at Leighton.

The council will now look into the wider transport plans for the area to see if a station would be a suitable scheme.

"One of the criticisms councils face is that we build houses without the infrastructure, so we're ensuring what the infrastructure would be for that area whether the houses get built or not," independent councillor Goldsmith said.

But he said the plans were "still a long way to go" and the authority had not started consultations in the local area because "we've got nothing to consult with".

"I understand there's a lot of local sort of demand for knowledge on this, but we don't have much, which is why we're doing the report so we can then have that discussion about what it is and where and why," he said.

Goldsmith said the station could cost around £20 to 30m and would be funded by the Cheshire and Warrington Combined Authority.

"But what else that would involve, whether it be new sort of small roads needed, whether it be bus terminus or transport interchange or hub, we don't know."

Cheshire East Council has also commissioned a masterplan for the area it is referring to as "Greater Crewe".

The authority's cabinet has approved plans to work with a "strategic partner" on creating a masterplan and has also voted to "endorse Greater Crewe as Cheshire East's principal strategic growth and investment opportunity".

Independent Michael Gorman, the deputy leader of the council, said Crewe was "recognised as the borough's principal economic centre" and had the "greatest potential to support housing and employment growth at scale".

"Growth is the only way we're going to pay for services in the future and economic growth is the way in which we will really secure the journey to become a high performance council."

Conservative group leader Stewart Gardiner asked the cabinet what the boundaries of Greater Crewe would be and Gorman replied that would be part of the masterplan work.

Goldsmith added that transport would be a "real integral part" of regeneration in the area.

Nick Mannion, the Labour leader of the council, said plans approved to start work on the future direction of Crewe was "the start of the journey".

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