A £15m investment will see a Merseyside station get a new building and its car park double in capacity, as well as improved pedestrian and cycling routes.
The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority has today announced a £14.8m investment from its Transforming Cities Fund for Lea Green rail station in St Helens, as part of wider plans to encourage people to use more sustainable modes of transport.
The authority announced on Monday that it has been working with St Helens Borough Council and Northern for the Eastern Region Interchange and Connectivity (ERIC) scheme.
The project includes a number of upgrades at Lea Green station which, since 2018 has seen more services stop at the station, offering more opportunities to travel across the UK, and the surrounding area.
Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram said: “Devolution offers us the opportunity to do things differently. When I was elected, I made it a priority to improve our local transport network to make it easier, quicker and more affordable for local people.
“That’s why we’ve invested nearly £15m in and around Lea Green station to improve the facilities and make it a much better place for travellers and cyclists alike.
“I’m also developing wider plans for a London-style transport network, with tap-in contactless payments, fare caps and better buses and trains. We're using devolution to take greater control over local transport and run it in the interests of its users.”
The improvements will mean a new station building with better passenger facilities including a waiting room, doubling the capacity for park and ride at the station to 450 spaces, creating pedestrian and cycling routes connecting nearby residential, leisure and employment areas and making changes to the 'Bull and Dog' junction to make it easier to use on foot and by cycle.
Proposals for the Bull and Dog junction include the City Region’s first CYCLOPS (Cycle Optimised Protected Signals) junction, which are designed to enable pedestrians, cyclists and motorists to use a junction at the same time in a safe way, the authority said.
Feedback and comments from residents, local businesses, and anyone connected to Lea Green railway station, submitted as part of a public consultation that closed in February, will help shape final designs.
The news follows an announcement last week from the combined authority confirming a £9.8m TCF investment into improving accessibility at five rail stations on the city region network.
All the schemes are part of a wider vision to make the region’s rail network the most accessible in the country.
Councillor Andy Bowden, St Helens Borough Council's Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport, said: “We’re always looking to make active travel like walking and cycling an easier option - particularly for shorter trips - and will encourage longer commutes by rail at the upgraded train station, so securing this funding is a positive step forward.
“Our intention is to make sure this scheme is fit for the future by planning in future development of nearby brownfield sites so that sustainable travel is built in from the start of developments to help create healthy habits from the beginning.”
