Roads near the site of Kirkby’s new station are set to change over the next year after the project took another step forward last night.
At a meeting on Wednesday evening, Knowsley Council’s cabinet voted to accept a £2.75m grant from the Liverpool City Region to fund roadworks that will prepare the area around Headbolt Lane for the new station, expected to open in 2023.
The money will mostly fund work to improve access to the long-awaited station, which will see Merseyrail services extended beyond Kirkby and form part of a proposed new rail line to Skelmersdale.
The proposed changes involve blocking off the existing subway under Headbolt Lane and replacing it with a pedestrian crossing, as well as building a segregated cycling and pedestrian path between the Langton Road estate and Bank Lane.
Further up Headbolt Lane, the council will install traffic calming measures near Eastcroft Park Primary School.
Along with the roadworks, the money will also fund landscaping work in nearby open spaces to mitigate the loss of green space involved in building the station and its car park.
Along with the new three-platform station, the plans for Headbolt Lane include a bus interchange, 300 park and ride spaces and step-free access throughout the station.
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Welcoming the plans, cabinet member and Kirkby councillor Jayne Aston said: “It’s been talked about for many years, Headbolt Lane station, and it’s really good news to see it finally come to fruition once it gets through, hopefully, all the planning procedures.
“It will be a great asset to the Knowsley area and Kirkby and the wider region as well.”
A planning application for the station itself is expected in the near future, with construction work set to begin by the end of 2021.
