Offer to 'share expertise' over station upgrade

Railway bosses say they are willing to share their expertise on historical coal mining beneath a station in Staffordshire to enable improvement works to move forward.

It comes after a row between the local MP and leader of the borough council over the planned work at Kidsgrove Railway Station.

Bosses at Network Rail said the previous scheme was hampered due to poor underground conditions caused by uncharted mine workings.

The current project is now at an impasse while funding for exploratory works is being argued over by the politicians.

Council leader Simon Tagg recently called on MP David Williams to ensure funding was still in place for the plans - which include parking for 200 cars and a new transport interchange - but said he had not received a direct response.

The MP had claimed Tagg was attempting to deflect responsibility on the issue.

He said Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council had failed to properly budget for the scheme, having been previously aware of historic coal mining in the vicinity of the station.

"It is regrettable that they now resort to finger-pointing rather than putting forward a serious solution," Mr Williams said.

Tagg also claimed bosses at Network Rail, which owns and manages most of the railway infrastructure in Great Britain, were blocking the scheme.

They had demanded a fully funded restoration plan prior to giving the go-ahead for the work to begin, he said.

Tagg added that he felt this was unrealistic, as Kidsgrove Town Deal Board, which is overseeing the scheme, would not be able to predict costings until the work had begun.

Network Rail bosses said they had previously faced historic mining issues in the area.

"During our work to build new lifts to make Kidsgrove station accessible for all, the multi-million-pound project was hampered by poor underground conditions caused by previously unknown historic mine workings," they said.

"Having overcome those challenges, we are now offering our knowledge and expertise on what lies beneath the station for a separate council-led scheme to build a new car park and expansion of the station facilities on the site.

"Due to risks from previous coal mine shafts, additional ground investigation is needed before improvements can safely begin, which our colleagues at Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council are leading on."

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