Rail schemes could be supported if Crewe benefits

Plans to create two new rail schemes through Cheshire East could be "provisionally supported" if Crewe and the wider borough benefits, a council has said.

It would mean several miles of new railway would pass through Cheshire East to provide new services.

The first is a Liverpool to Manchester railway section of Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) which currently does not include any direct connections for Cheshire East or any of its railway stations.

The second is a Midland to North West Rail Link, a possible alternative scheme to the scrapped phase two section of HS2.

It currently does not provide investment and connectivity benefits to Crewe that HS2 offered but proposes a tunnel that could bypass the station, a report to Cheshire East Council's corporate policy committee said.

Twelve committee members voted to recommend that the council "provisionally supports" the Liverpool to Manchester scheme, providing a number of conditions are met, including investment at Crewe Station.

They said that while Cheshire East Council welcomed alternative options to HS2, they recommend the council "would only lend its support to schemes that put Crewe at the heart of the solution".

Councillor Mark Goldsmith said that it made "no sense for any new HS2 rail line to miss out Crewe Station entirely".

“We must also work with the new government directly to ensure we get the change at Crewe which is now long overdue," he said.

The council will vote about the scheme on 11 December.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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