A Staffordshire railway station will be refurbished – instead of rebuilt – due to a lack of funds, council leaders say.

Kidsgrove's Town Deal from the government included £3.69 million for a major overhaul of the town's station to make it 'fit for purpose for 21st century commuter expectations'.

But now the plans are set to be scaled back because there is no money to pay for anticipated ground remediation on the site, relating to historic mining works – which could cost another £2 million.

Members of Kidsgrove Town Deal Board had hoped that extra funding would be available, such as money diverted from the scrapping of HS2's northern leg, announced by the previous Conservative government.

But it has now become clear that no more money will be forthcoming for the project, and the government has told the board that spending £680,000 of Town Deal cash on ground investigation work would therefore not be a good use of public funds.

Newcastle Borough Council leader Simon Tagg, who is also vice-chair of Kidsgrove Town Deal Board, told a cabinet meeting that plans to refurbish the existing station building were now being drawn up.

Cllr Tagg said: "We thought we were going to have a bigger rebuild of Kidsgrove Station but we've been waiting a significant amount of time to see if money from the government was going to be honoured – money to deal with the remediation of the site. A survey would have been required.

"The board was going to take the plunge and do the survey, and find out what the groundwork issues were, but we've been told that now there is no money to do any of the remedial work, so it wouldn't be a good use of Town Deal money to spend it on a survey.

"I do differ with that and did say at the Town Deal Board that we need to find out what is wrong with the site, but we've been advised that we can't use Town Deal money for that, because there is no further government money – which was promised last year as part of the funds diverted from HS2. That now seems to have disappeared into the ether.

"What we're now bringing forward, which will come to cabinet in the near future, via the Town Deal Board, is a refurb of the station."

The original plans for Kidsgrove Station included 'an improved modern station building', a transport interchange and a 200-space car park, as well as better access to the canal.

A report from East Midlands Railway set out the expected costs of 12 different scenarios, covering survey, remediation and construction work, with all but one exceeding the level of Town Deal funding available.

The one affordable option would deliver a new station building but leave the old one derelict, which the council says 'isn't in line with the aspirations of the Town Deal Board'.

In February the board wrote to the government saying that a contribution from the Local Transport Fund (LTF) would be 'vital to secure a positive outcome'.

The previous Conservative government announced in 2023 that £4.7 billion would be diverted from HS2 to the LTF to pay for transport projects across the North and the Midlands. The Network North announcement included a reference to Kidsgrove Station, but no specific funding allocation.

Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves' autumn Budget included a £650 million commitment in local transport funding available for 2025/26.

In its response to the board, the Department for Transport said that Staffordshire's allocation from this fund would be announced 'in due course' and that it would be up to the county council to decide whether to spend any of the money on Kidsgrove Station.

The DfT letter states: "The previous government announced investment for several transport capita schemes which were unfunded, and this government has had to make difficult decisions about priorities for infrastructure and transport investment."

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