[🌎 Universal GB] Planning, Transport and Infrastructure

[WanderingNortherner]

2 stations down the line at Harlington, they got a new footbridge at Christmas, no lifts because people who can't do stairs are clearly not important to Network Rail.

A footbridge replacing that rotten one behind it... £7m.

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

They should be kicking up a fuss about it, hopefully they do because the money should be paid back. We all know Universal were looking at this site and chose it long before the station was started, the station would have happened eventually anyway due to Universal.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but a local authority cannot run its capital programme based on NDAs and rumours.

The Council had a statutory obligation to the thousands of residents already living in Wixams who were promised a station fifteen years ago. They had the funding (S106), they had the contracts and they had the pressure to deliver. They could not simply down tools for three years on the possibility that Comcast might decide to grace us with their presence. If Universal had pulled out last month, the Council would have been flayed alive for delaying the station for no reason.

The tragedy here is the lack of joined up thinking between Central Government (who knew about Universal) and Local Government (who were left holding the bag).

2 stations down the line at Harlington, they got a new footbridge at Christmas, no lifts because people who can't do stairs are clearly not important to Network Rail.

A footbridge replacing that rotten one behind it... £7m.

£7 million for a footbridge without lifts in the mid 2020s isn't just poor value... It borders on a breach of the Equality Act 2010.

It perfectly illustrates the two tier infrastructure system we are currently witnessing.

Universal gets a bespoke, government backed, four-platform super station with likely step free access, capacity for millions and upgraded road links. All costing hundreds of millions and fast tracked.

Harlington Residents get some stairs and a "good luck with that wheelchair / pram".

It seems accessibility is a priority only when there is a ticket price attached to the destination.

 

[Benjsh]

I find it very hard to feel sorry for the people of Harlington. I live in a Greater Manchester town with a population of 46000 that is considered to be one of the biggest in the whole country without a train station / Train stop. Once upon we a time before I was born in the mid 80's we had 4 different lines running through our town and today we have ZERO.

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

I find it very hard to feel sorry for the people of Harlington. I live in a Greater Manchester town with a population of 46000 that is considered to be one of the biggest in the whole country without a train station / Train stop. Once upon we a time before I was born in the mid 80's we had 4 different lines running through our town and today we have ZERO.

What you're describing is the textbook example of post Beeching short sightedness, but it perfectly illustrates why the Universal UK situation is so unpalatable. Your town has 46,000 tax paying residents who have waited decades for a connection. The Kempston Hardwick site currently has a resident population of zero. Yet, the site with zero population is being gifted a government backed four platform super station, whilst the residents of Wixams are left with a £32 million hole in their council budget.

It starkly demonstrates that infrastructure planning in this country is no longer driven by civic need or connecting communities. It is driven by connecting consumers to cash registers.

If you want a train station in your town, don't petition your MP. Petition Comcast to build a Jurassic World in the town square. It appears to be the only way to get the Department for Transport to open its chequebook.

 

[Ash]

What you're describing is the textbook example of post Beeching short sightedness, but it perfectly illustrates why the Universal UK situation is so unpalatable. Your town has 46,000 tax paying residents who have waited decades for a connection. The Kempston Hardwick site currently has a resident population of zero. Yet, the site with zero population is being gifted a government backed four platform super station, whilst the residents of Wixams are left with a £32 million hole in their council budget.

It starkly demonstrates that infrastructure planning in this country is no longer driven by civic need or connecting communities. It is driven by connecting consumers to cash registers.

If you want a train station in your town, don't petition your MP. Petition Comcast to build a Jurassic World in the town square. It appears to be the only way to get the Department for Transport to open its chequebook.

Although slightly different.

Applying similar logic it would have made sense to reopen Alton station and the line from Leekbrook back to Stoke but as you say, short sightedness is the way.

We were far better at infrastructure in the 19th century sadly.