Funding blow leaves Wolverhampton railway station work in doubt
The long-awaited rebuild of Wolverhampton's railway station has been thrown into doubt after a £20 million bid for funding towards the project was turned down.
Disappointed council and transport bosses were today coming to terms with having to go back to the drawing board on the scheme. Wolverhampton City Council and transport authority Centro need £96m to replace the rail station and provide space for a hotel and more shops. They had applied for £20.2m from a £1 billion Regional Growth Fund.
But while 18 projects across the West Midlands have been selected to share the £124m pot – including the £1.4m Express & Star Green Shoots Fund – Wolverhampton rail station missed out.
It is the second time in just over a year the Government has refused to fund the scheme, that would see an extension of the car park.
However, city MP Paul Uppal has managed to get the Government to agree to take the station's rebuild needs "into account" when drawing up a new franchise to run the West Coast Main Line. Deputy leader of Wolverhampton City Council Peter Bilson said: "It does not suppress our desire to press forward.
"It is disappointing because we know train operators such as Virgin, which runs the West Coast Main Line, were supportive.
"We will be going back to the Department for Transport and try to work out how to get things moving."
The blow comes after the West Coast line was left in limbo by the scrapping of plans to award control of it to Virgin's rival FirstGroup.
Virgin will continue to operate it for around a year before a two-year franchise is awarded, rather than the 13-year one originally planned. Mr Uppal, MP for Wolverhampton South West, has called for investment in the station to be made a condition of any future tender for the franchise.
