(Pictured: Stoke Station)
Plans have been announced for a new multi-million pound bid that will help to revolutionise Stoke-on-Trent's public transport...
Stoke-on-Trent City Council are launching a bid for £120 million of funding from the UK Government to help revitalise public transport across the Potteries. The bid will see Stoke Station remodeled into the key transport interchange for the whole North Staffordshire conurbation - the railway line linking Stoke Station, Longton Station and Longport Station is set to become a ‘major transport corridor’ for movement within the Staffordshire city.
Meanwhile, plans will see bus links improved between Stoke Station and the City Centre, and throughout Stoke-on-Trent, to encourage greater use of public transport in the city.
Council leaders say that the proposed projects will create jobs, reduce congestion, pollution and journey times, and improve accessibility and connectivity in the region.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council was among 12 authorities shortlisted for the Department for Transport’s £840 million Transforming City Fund last year.
Stoke-on-Trent has already been allocated £5.6 million of ‘Tranche One’ funding, which will pay for transport improvements around Stoke Station and the University Quarter. The new proposals have led to a second bid, with Council leaders currently finalising their larger ‘Tranche Two’ bid (due to be submitted by the 28th November).
The upper cost of the ‘High Package’ would include £120.6 million from the Transforming Cities Fund (TCF), combined with £18.1 million of match funding from the City Council and its partners (making a project total of £138.6 million).
At the other end of the scale, a revisied 'Smaller' package would only require £25.3 million from the TCF, with £6.9 million of match funding from Stoke-on-Trent City Council.
Cllr. Dan Jellyman, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Transport, believes that the schemes will have a big impact on the way people travel around Stoke-on-Trent, commenting:
“It’s all about getting that shift from private vehicles to public transport, and a big part of that involves Stoke Station. If you look at other cities with successful public transport, the rail station is the main transport hub."
(Pictured: Councilor Dan Jellyman)
“The station’s location outside the city centre brings unique challenges, but also opportunities. We’re looking to improve that central link from Hanley to the station and onto Stoke itself, so we’ll have that connectivity between the commercial centre, the transport hub and Stoke, which is becoming a university town."
“We also want to take that rail infrastructure that we’ve already got in the city and make better use of it.”
The City Council’s ‘strategic outcomes’ for the schemes include:
- Turning Stoke Station into the city-wide key central public transport hub and interchange serving the whole conurbation.
- Stoke Station alongside Longton and Longport Stations used and recognised as the major transport corridor for intra city movement.
- Increased passenger throughput at the station.
- Improved quality of public transport service between the station and city centre.
- Improved public transport journey times and reliability between the station and key destinations including Ceramic Valley Enterprise Zone, Longton, Burslem, Tunstall and the Royal Stoke University Hospital.
(Pictured: Longport Station)
Stoke-on-Trent City Council is working on the plans with Network Rail, train operating companies, First Bus and other public transport companies, who may also contribute to the match funding for the schemes.
Nigel Eggleton, Managing Director at First Potteries, said:
“We’re working closely with city council officers to identify, design and progress many opportunities that success in the funding bid would bring. Major improvements to the reliability, punctuality and coverage of local bus services would transform the attractiveness of using public transport with all the environmental benefits that would bring.”