CAMPAIGN UPDATE - FEBRUARY 2013

CAMPAIGN UPDATE

FEBRUARY 2013

Middlewich Rail Link Campaign members Stephen Dent and Councillor Mike Parsons will be meeting with Cheshire East Council on Tuesday (12^th February) to urge the council to apply for funding for the Middlewich Rail Link scheme from the Government’s New Station Fund.

This follows a recommendation to Local MP Fiona Bruce from the Minister of State for Transport, Simon Burns, as reported in last week’s Middlewich Guardian (see link below).

Fiona Bruce has already asked the council to consider making an application for this money and Councillor Parsons and Stephen Dent will be pressing the case on Tuesday for an application to be submitted before the deadline on the 25^th of February.

MRLC would like to correct a highly misleading statement from a Network Rail spokesman in the same report.

It is not true that proposals to re-open Middlewich Station have ‘already been examined by the rail industry but not progressed “due to the lack of a sufficient business case”’.

Our 2009 report, produced by respected rail experts the Rail Consultancy, has never been examined by Network Rail.

That organisation’s refusal to even consider reading the report without being paid a lot of money is precisely what is holding up this scheme, and has been for the last three years.

We would like to call on Network Rail to withdraw this misleading and potentially highly damaging statement, to read and carefully consider the 2009 report, and to do the job that it should be doing – helping to develop this country’s railway network and making it accessible to all.

Dave Roberts

READ THE ORIGINAL

REPORT HERE