WORK TO START SOON ON NEW STATION

WORK is set to start within the

next few weeks on a long-awaited multi-million pound railway station for

Chorley’s newest village.

 

Contractors are due on site in

September and the new station to serve Buckshaw Village is expected to be up

and running by autumn 2011 after planning permission was granted by Chorley

Council this week.

 

Councillor Peter Goldsworthy,

Chorley Council leader, said: “We are delighted that work will start on the new

station so soon, the residents of Buckshaw Village have been waiting a long

time.

 

“It will be completed next year and

with its park and ride facility will prove to be a huge asset for the Village, and

for the people of Chorley who choose to use it, helping to create a truly

sustainable community.”

 

The station is a joint venture

between Chorley Council, Lancashire County Council, Network Rail and rail

operators Northern.

 

It had always been an important

part of the vision for Buckshaw Village which has been built on the site of the

395-acre former Royal Ordnance factory at Euxton.

 

County Councillor Tim Ashton,

Lancashire County Council's cabinet member for highways and transport, added:

"I am delighted for the people of Buckshaw Village that they will soon

have a new, state-of-the-art railway station.

 

"Buckshaw Village is a

vibrant, thriving community which I have no doubt will benefit enormously once

the railway station is up and running."

 

Work started in 2002 to create the

sustainable village of more than 2,000 homes, with employment areas, open

spaces, a district shopping centre, a primary school, outdoor sports

activities, footpaths and cycleways.

 

A planning application by Network

Rail for a station was approved in 2008 but it was a revised plan submitted

earlier this year which got the go ahead last week.

 

The two platform station, on the

same Manchester to Preston line as Chorley station, is expected to accommodate

450,000 passengers a year and will be operated by Northern Rail.

 

There will be park and ride

facilities on the northern side of the station offering free parking for 204

cars including 10 spaces for disabled parking, and there will be a pedestrian

access bridge linking the two platforms.