Councillors will receive an update on the progress made on a potential railway station in Haxby, at a meeting of the Council Executive due to take place on September 30.
As part of the project, councillors will be asked to note the progress being made with partners in the delivery of a new railway station in Haxby - in York - alongside agreeing to the purchase of land.
Further purchase of land will put the strongest possible case forward to the government to obtain greater funding for a new railway station in Haxby, reducing the risks to the delivery of the project, as problems surrounding land acquisition can prevent delivery or cause significant delays.
In order to support this, councillors will be asked to consider a budget of £250K to fund the purchase and associated acquisition costs. The land under proposal could possibly help to deliver a station in Haxby, either as the station location, or for other strategic uses.
A station at Haxby has been under discussion for several years and currently makes up part of the Council plan, ‘Making History, Building Communities’. Last year, after numerous meetings with local communities, the council submitted a bid for funding to the government to build a new railway station.
In November 2020, the government revealed that £400k had been made available to fund further development work.
Councillor Keith Aspden, Leader of City of York Council, said “it has always been our ambition to bring a railway station to Haxby and since we secured the funding last year, further work has taken place to develop these plans and make this ambition a reality.”
The Councillor continued, "a new station at Haxby would increase connectivity for communities, providing faster, more efficient sustainable transport links from Haxby into York, Leeds, Manchester and beyond, as well as linking this area with Malton and Scarborough.”
He added, "of course, there remains a lot of work to do, and we will continue to do what we can to make this happen, with further updates due to be shared in the weeks after this Executive meeting.”
The council has since worked closely alongside Network Rail, developing a strategic and business case to help unlock the extra funding necessary to deliver the railway station, with the hope that a new station could be built in 2024.
Additionally, Councillors will be asked to agree that the project be included in the council’s Capital Programme for 2021/2022, to confirm the acceptance of the government’s development funding grant.
The precise location of this site cannot be named publicly just yet, due to commercial confidentiality and the wishes of the current owner of the site. If the Executive approves the purchase of the site, the location will be disclosed in a later report once the purchase has been finalised.
Councillor Andy D’Agorne, Deputy Leader of City of York Council and Executive Member for Transport, said “this is the latest milestone in our efforts to bring a railway station to Haxby.”
He continued, "Haxby station would bring many benefits. Better sustainable transport links reduce traffic levels on the road and also better connect those living in the north of the city to areas across the country.”
“We are grateful to those who fed back to our consultation last year, with over 1,000 people having their say and the vast majority - 91% - supporting the idea of a railway station in Haxby. We will continue to engage communities as we move through this project and share more details as soon as we can.”
The Executive meeting will take place at 5:30 pm on Thursday 30 September and will be livestreamed online.
