Issue - meetings

Rochester Railway Station Relocation

 

 

Meeting: 15/01/2013 - Cabinet (Item 6)

6 Rochester Railway Station Relocation and New Car Park Provision pdf icon PDF 849 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Background:

 

This report provided details of proposals to redevelop part of the Corporation Street car park as a component of a scheme to relocate Rochester Station and provide access to the Riverside development whilst providing additional replacement parking facilities for shoppers, businesses and rail users.  Funding for the scheme was announced in the Network Rail National Infrastructure Plan in early January 2013 and represented a £26-£28 million investment in Rochester.

 

The report set out the benefits of the relocated station including; an increased platform and concourse capacity to cater for 12 car trains, rather than 9 as at present; quicker more frequent/more reliable service up and down the line to and from London to Medway and beyond; station better located for Rochester town centre and Rochester Riverside; the ability to better integrate with other modes of transport and a new pedestrian subway (to be funded by Network Rail) to link the new station with the Rochester Riverside site and Rochester town centre.

 

The report also provided details of the existing car parking spaces in the locality, the demand for spaces following the relocation and the proposal to accommodate all these additional spaces in a new car park to be constructed within the Rochester Riverside site and located close to the new subway, which Network Rail would build to link the site to the new station and Rochester town centre.

 

It was also noted that the site was included in the Rochester Riverside collaboration agreement with the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) (formerly SEEDA) and therefore the HCA’s consent would be needed before the site could be disposed of or any rights granted across the site.

 

A timetable setting out the milestones for the delivery of the new station was tabled at the meeting.

 

The Cabinet accepted this report as urgent in response to the Network Rail announcement on the scheme and to enable officers to start work on the proposals as soon as possible.

 

Decision number:

Decision:

8/2013

The Cabinet agreed to delegate authority to the Assistant Director of Legal and Corporate Services, in consultation with the Leader, to:

(a)   Declare surplus part of the Corporation Street Car park site and to dispose of it to Network Rail to use as a site for a new station;

(b)  Grant any necessary rights over the Council’s land to enable the Station to be built; and

(c)   Amend the Collaboration Agreement to reflect the inclusion of part of the Corporation Street Car Park as part of the Rochester Riverside site.

 

Reasons:

 

To ensure that the new station can be developed on the site and that there is no consequential net loss of parking spaces.