Green light for new rail stations
PLANS for two new railway stations between Leeds and Bradford have been given the green light from the government.
Funding for the stations at Kirkstall Forge and Apperley Bridge will come mainly from the Department for Transport (DfT), at a cost of around £16m.
Construction is due to start in July with both stations scheduled to open next summer.
A regular hourly service and additional peak services will call at Kirkstall Forge, on the line between Leeds and Bradford, while two trains per hour will call at the new Apperley Bridge station.
The proposals for the new station form part of a wider scheme to transform the historic site into a thriving family-friendly community with more than 1,000 new homes.
Its estimated that the development will create around 2,400 new jobs and will also bring about £400m of private sector investment and an estimated £5m per year in local retail spend.
Terms were agreed in April between Leeds City Council, the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP), West Yorkshire Combined Authority and the site owners, GMV Twelve.
GMV Twelve is investing £5m in the design and construction of the station, which is facilitated through a loan from the LEP.
In addition, the council will spend approximately £10m to construct a new access road from the A65 to the station (including a road and pedestrian bridge over the River Aire) together with a temporary car park for 190 vehicles and a new road junction with traffic lights on the A65.
The West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s submission for funding for the delivery of the two rail stations was made to the DfT at the start of April.
The total scheme cost is £15.97m with over £9m to be funded by the DfT and the remaining funding coming from the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and Commercial Estate Group (CEG), the agents for GMV Twelve.
CEG has already invested extensively in demolition and remediation works on the 56-acre former industrial site.
