Despite some uncertainty, Rotherham Council and its partners continue to develop regeneration plans based around a potential new £30m mainline station in Rotherham.
South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) and Rotherham Council have been developing a scheme to return mainline train services to the borough for the first time since the 1980s. A site at Parkgate is the frontrunner for a regeneration project described by experts as "a relatively straightforward scheme for delivery within three to four years."
A business case has been completed and a lead consultant has now been procured to produce a masterplan study for the station area.
£10m has been earmarked to support the mainline station as part of Rotherham Council’s successful £31.6m award from the Towns Fund. The award triggered a 12 month period to develop locally assured Full Business Cases ahead of the submission of Project Summary Documents to the Government by 29th June 2022.
A business case around the Mainline Station was submitted to the Government in August.
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A council report states: "The scheme promotes a new Rotherham Integrated Mainline and Tram Train Station which will significantly improve local, regional and national rail connectivity for local people and businesses, offering access to employment and business growth opportunities, and contributing significantly to the economic regeneration of the town.
"The preferred location for the station demonstrates excellent strategic fit with Rotherham’s urban core due to its proximity to the town centre, a number of planned housing and employment sites, and its potential to provide a high quality transport interchange hub, and location adjacent to the existing tramtrain line and close to existing bus routes. Additionally, the site is of a size that it can accommodate the necessary station infrastructure and ancillary facilities whilst surrounding land offers significant regeneration potential in the longer term.
"The Towns Fund investment is focused on the acquisition of the land necessary to construct the integrated station and associated facilities, thereby de-risking the project, maintaining project momentum and catalysing further investment. The Council, as project promoter, and partners are seeking opportunities to expedite the process and accelerate delivery of the project where possible."
The project delivery has not been helped by a Government decision to not allow SYMCA to use the full £8m requested from its City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS) for the project.
The £8m could still come forward from the CRSTS before 2027, but a lot rides on the studies into taking HS2 services to Leeds. For the Levelling Up Fund, the Government expects all funding provided from the earlier rounds to be spent by 31 March 2024, and, exceptionally, into 2024-25 for larger schemes.
As part of the project, Weston Williamson + Partners has secured a £349,000 contract from the council to carry out the masterplan study. Tender documents show that as part of the business case "it is important to ascertain the wider regeneration benefits a new station could deliver. In order to understand the wider regeneration potential a masterplan is required."
Acquired earlier this year by Egis, one of the world’s leading consulting, engineering and operating companies, Weston Williamson + Partners has a portfolio that includes work on Paddington Station, Old Oak Common HS2 Station and Barking Riverside (pictured) in London, and plans for taking Manchester’s HS2 station underground.
As for any potential services to a Rotherham mainline station, this could include current TransPennine Express, Northern and Cross Country services that pass through the borough without stopping, and future Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) trains between Sheffield and Leeds and Hull, and a Manchester Airport to Cleethorpes NPR service. The region wants to see two trains per hour, NPR "shuttles," between Sheffield and Leeds stopping at Rotherham mainline.
Images: Weston Williamson + Partners
South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) and Rotherham Council have been developing a scheme to return mainline train services to the borough for the first time since the 1980s. A site at Parkgate is the frontrunner for a regeneration project described by experts as "a relatively straightforward scheme for delivery within three to four years."
A business case has been completed and a lead consultant has now been procured to produce a masterplan study for the station area.
£10m has been earmarked to support the mainline station as part of Rotherham Council’s successful £31.6m award from the Towns Fund. The award triggered a 12 month period to develop locally assured Full Business Cases ahead of the submission of Project Summary Documents to the Government by 29th June 2022.
A business case around the Mainline Station was submitted to the Government in August.
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A council report states: "The scheme promotes a new Rotherham Integrated Mainline and Tram Train Station which will significantly improve local, regional and national rail connectivity for local people and businesses, offering access to employment and business growth opportunities, and contributing significantly to the economic regeneration of the town.
"The preferred location for the station demonstrates excellent strategic fit with Rotherham’s urban core due to its proximity to the town centre, a number of planned housing and employment sites, and its potential to provide a high quality transport interchange hub, and location adjacent to the existing tramtrain line and close to existing bus routes. Additionally, the site is of a size that it can accommodate the necessary station infrastructure and ancillary facilities whilst surrounding land offers significant regeneration potential in the longer term.
"The Towns Fund investment is focused on the acquisition of the land necessary to construct the integrated station and associated facilities, thereby de-risking the project, maintaining project momentum and catalysing further investment. The Council, as project promoter, and partners are seeking opportunities to expedite the process and accelerate delivery of the project where possible."
The project delivery has not been helped by a Government decision to not allow SYMCA to use the full £8m requested from its City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS) for the project.
The £8m could still come forward from the CRSTS before 2027, but a lot rides on the studies into taking HS2 services to Leeds. For the Levelling Up Fund, the Government expects all funding provided from the earlier rounds to be spent by 31 March 2024, and, exceptionally, into 2024-25 for larger schemes.
As part of the project, Weston Williamson + Partners has secured a £349,000 contract from the council to carry out the masterplan study. Tender documents show that as part of the business case "it is important to ascertain the wider regeneration benefits a new station could deliver. In order to understand the wider regeneration potential a masterplan is required."
Acquired earlier this year by Egis, one of the world’s leading consulting, engineering and operating companies, Weston Williamson + Partners has a portfolio that includes work on Paddington Station, Old Oak Common HS2 Station and Barking Riverside (pictured) in London, and plans for taking Manchester’s HS2 station underground.
As for any potential services to a Rotherham mainline station, this could include current TransPennine Express, Northern and Cross Country services that pass through the borough without stopping, and future Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) trains between Sheffield and Leeds and Hull, and a Manchester Airport to Cleethorpes NPR service. The region wants to see two trains per hour, NPR "shuttles," between Sheffield and Leeds stopping at Rotherham mainline.
Images: Weston Williamson + Partners