Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps his Department has taken to progress consideration of reopening of the Mid Cheshire rail line and Middlewich railway station.

Having provided detailed feedback on a draft of the document in April, officials received an updated version of the Mid-Cheshire and Middlewich Station Strategic Outline Business Case from the Cheshire and Warrington LEP in October 2020, along with a request for feedback on their consultant’s suggestions for further work on it. The goal is to strengthen the case for the scheme’s potential inclusion within the Department’s Rail Network Enhancement Pipeline (RNEP).

Due to funding constraints, the LEP wish to progress this work in the next financial year, supported by co-funding from the Department. My officials plan to discuss with the LEP how this can best be considered and progressed. The third round of the Restoring Your Railway Ideas Fund is also currently accepting applications.