The future of Kidsgrove train station is once again without an agreed future as members of the Kidsgrove Town Deal Board fail to agree moving forward with ground investigation work.

Newcastle Borough Council was awarded £3.8 million Levelling Up money for a new car park, station forecourt and extended station building at Kidsgrove Station. However new estimates show that the project is estimated to cost £5.5m, including remediation.

Now the latest action log from the board meeting dated 30th January states the members debated "at length" over whether the project is still in the best interests of Kidsgrove or whether the money would be better spent elsewhere in the town.

The council only has until 2027 to spend the existing Levelling Up money before it needs to be returned to the government.

Now it is being looked at what can be done if the survey work is done and cost can be contained with the project, however it will not be everything anticipated. 

Cllr Mike Stubbs asked: "I think there's a much bigger problem here with the Kidsgrove Town Station than one paragraph in a report.

"To say we've got a discussion at a future board meeting that is talking about the costing of the survey work.

"The survey works are going to be what ten per cent, five per cent, one per cent of the total cost of the remediation work that's required.

"How far are we down the track with knowing how much that's going to cost and where it's going to be funded from because there doesn't seem to be the funds available in the town deal.

"There doesn't seem to be any additional funding coming from government. At what point does that become a red flag and not an amber flag because for many in Kidsgrove it's a red flag now. People just see a cleared area and think they've been forgotten again."

Deputy Chief Executive Simon McEneny responded: "The train station work requires a survey. Network Rail have said under no circumstances can anything happen on any site or building without a survey being undertaken.

"We have a price for the survey, what we don't have us approval of the board to undertake that survey because there are members of the board that don't think it's a priority for Kidsgrove anymore but we are relying on the fact that it is a priority because it was in the original town investment plan and we are trying to get that sorted.

"The risk is what the survey finds and we don't know that until we've done the survey. If the results come out and they are beneficial and we don't need to spend a shed load of money fixing the ground underneath the station – great because we might be able to afford something with the train station.

"The train station project did not include any survey or ground remediation works because we were told by Network Rail everything was fine, it's not not fine and we do need to do the survey."

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