£4.23 million boost for new railway station

WARRINGTON Borough Council has won £4,23 million funding from the government for the new Warrington West railway station.
Work has already started on the project but the funding boost means the station and its car park can now be completed without any additional financial support.
The money comes from the New Stations Fund and was announced by Rail Minister Paul Maynard this morning.
Clr Hans Mundry, the council’s lead member for transport, said: “We’re delighted to have received this substantial funding from the government.
“The quality of our bid clearly stood out against the competition and I’d like to congratulate our officers for the work that has gone into the bid process.
“It shows the confidence the government has in the growth of our town and our success in attracting businesses to Warrington. This is another example of how serious we are about investing in the infrastructure of the borough while we continue to grow.”
Pete Waterman, board member of Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and chairman of the Local Transport Board, said: “This announcement is great news for Cheshire and Warrington that
will enable us to progress a vital infrastructure scheme to improve transport and accessibility in and around Warrington.
“The LEP has committed over £6.5 million from the Local Growth Fund to take forward the delivery of Warrington West Railway Station. This additional funding from Government will support the delivery of a modern station to meet the needs of key employment sites in the area such as Omega and Lingley Mere, and ensure that Warrington is in a strong position to capitalise on future growth opportunities such as Warrington New City.”
Work is programmed to start on site later his year with the station open in mid-2019.
councillors for Chapelford and Old Hall – the main area to benefit from the new station – Rebecca Knowles, Steve Parish and Faisal Rashid said, in a statement: “This is brilliant news for Chapelford and all of west Warrington.
“As local councillors, we will be keeping an eye on the impact on residents closest to the station, both during construction and when the station opens. There will no doubt be some extra traffic coming to the station, but that should be offset by local people keen just to walk to the station and straight onto a train to town, or to Liverpool or Manchester, or even for holidays to get direct to Manchester Airport in 40 minutes. We’d like to thank the council’s officers who persisted with this despite many setbacks.”