Earlier this year Northern politicians wrote to the Transport Secretary calling for the North’s share of Access for All funding – which pays for investment to make stations more accessible – to be devolved to the region.
But a meeting of Transport for the North’s (TfN) Rail North Committee (RNC) heard that, in response, the Government has said funding needed to be managed centrally – despite describing accessibility issues in the North as unacceptable.
Mayors and council leaders have made accessibility one of the top priorities for rail investment. More than half of the stations in the North of England do not meet modern accessibility standards, like step-free access, suitable lighting and CCTV.
Ten stations have recently been awarded funding for accessibility improvements. But the meeting heard that at the present rate it would be “many decades” before stations in the North were all brought up to an acceptable standard.
Politicians said continuing to manage Access for All funding centrally ran against devolution policy.
The committee will now respond to the Transport Secretary, seeking to work together to increase delivery pace and accessibility funding be devolved to combined mayoral authorities to bring delivery decisions closer to the communities they affect.
The meeting also heard that the Government’s recent Spending Review had meant several key rail projects in the North had been ‘paused’ – including electrification of the Midland Main Line to Sheffield and works north of York.
The North’s politicians are concerned this will hold the region back from the full benefits of the TransPennine Route Upgrade, as well as impacting longer term ambitions from Northern Powerhouse Rail to better connect citizens and businesses across the region.
They now plan to call for schemes that had been knocked back in the recent Spending Review to be looked at again, and quickly, given the essential role rail connectivity plays in driving sustainable growth.
Transport for the North’s Board Meeting will consider the implications of the Spending Review more widely at its meeting later this month.
NOTES FOR EDITORS:
The Department for Transport has announced that ten stations in the North will receive funding for accessibility improvements as part of the “Access for All” programme: Aigburth (Liverpool), Bredbury (Stockport), Chinley (Derbyshire), Church and Oswaldtwistle (Hyndburn), Flowery Field (Tameside), Newton for Hyde (Tameside), Port Sunlight (Wirral), Rock Ferry (Wirral), Thirsk (North Yorkshire), and Ulverston (Westmoreland & Furness).