Sir William Cash (Stone) (Con)

- Hansard -

I present this petition on behalf of the residents of the constituency of Stone in Staffordshire, and it relates to the reopening of Barlaston railway station, Stoke-on-Trent. It has been put together by many people, including Jon Heal, chairman of the North Staffs rail promotion group, and Rob McMillan of the same group.

The petition states:

The petition of residents of the constituency of Stone in Staffordshire,

Declares that the residents of Barlaston request the reopening of Barlaston railway station; further that the station was taken out of service and closed to trains as a consequence of the West Coast Main Line Upgrade in 2003; further that at present anyone wishing to travel by train from Barlaston must first take either one or two buses to Stoke-on-Trent or Stafford and/or undertake journeys on foot to rail replacement bus stops in Stone, which is a significant inconvenience and means access to the rail network is considerably difficult; further that the success of the reopening of Stone railway station in 2008 has demonstrated the potential for local stations to thrive; further that since Stone railway station reopened, Stone has seen a remarkable growth in its annual passenger footfall figures which have more than doubled from 48,000 in 2009-10 to 100,000 in 2013-14; and further that the London Euston–Crewe train already runs through Barlaston station without stopping.

The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Department for Transport to reopen Barlaston railway station.

And the Petitioners remain, etc.

[P001657]