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'Transformative' station improvements get closer

Martin HeathBuckinghamshire political reporter
News imageMartin Heath/BBC The exterior of Bletchley station which has a single-storey functional ticket office and waiting room, with a ramp and yellow handrail. There is a wooden portico with a station sign around the top. There are posters along the wall, and a single brown door to the right. There is doubled-door entrance under the portico. There is a strip of yellow "no waiting" paint on the roadway, which has white direction arrows on both sides.Martin Heath/BBC
The entrance to Bletchley station is on the western side, but the town centre lies to the east

Plans to create a "transformative" new entrance at a station on the East-West Rail route have taken a step forward.

Milton Keynes City Council's cabinet has agreed to contribute up to £5m to the project in Bletchley.

Developers of the East-West Rail line, between Oxford and Cambridge, will have to find the rest.

The council said the new entrance would increase the viability of new houses and shops.

At the moment, the entrance to Bletchley station is on the western side, opposite Milton Keynes College.

Passengers alighting at the station and heading to the town centre face a long walk under a wide bridge and they have to cross a busy road.

The proposed new entrance would be built on Saxon Street, on the other side of the station. The existing entrance would still remain.

The council said the project had "transformative potential".

News imageMartin Heath/BBC The approach to a roundabout which is being navigated by a black car. There is a sculpture consisting of two metal semicircles hinged together and a central vertical. It is on the pavement alongside the roundabout. A concrete section of overhead railway line is visible in the background, and a road going under the line can be seen to the left.Martin Heath/BBC
The new entrance would be built on Saxon Street, on the eastern side of the station

A report to Tuesday's cabinet meeting said: "East-West Rail have confirmed that they do not currently have the funds available to deliver this scheme on their own."

The cabinet agreed to contribute between £3m and £5m.

The money will come from a £9m transport hub project planned for land next to the station, which will "transform Saxon Street into a high-quality, sustainable transport interchange", the report said.

News imageMartin Heath/BBC Gordon Boyd with very short hair and glasses, looking at the camera and wearing a brown gilet over a grey sweater. He is sitting in a bus shelter.Martin Heath/BBC
Resident Gordon Boyd said the entrance would "open it up to the town centre"

The project has been welcomed by people in Bletchley.

Gordon Boyd said the new entrance would "open it [the station] up to the town centre instead of having to walk all the way around by the roundabout and then come all the way down through under the tunnel.

"It's easier to walk straight out and straight on to the crossing, straight into town, [and] they've got the bus station directly opposite ready to go to Aylesbury or wherever they want to go."

News imageMartin Heath/BBC Ana Aspas looking at the camera with dark hair tied back and a silver earring visible in the right ear. She is wearing a beige coat. There is a brick-built restaurant behind her with a "PanZini" board forward of the entrance.Martin Heath/BBC
Ana Aspas said the plan for a new entrance was "cool"

Ana Aspas, an 18-year-old student who uses the station almost every day, said: "It would be good to have, like, both of them - the entrance that is at the moment and this one as well, because it would be quicker to get places so you don't have to go around it.

"But I think it's cool."

The cabinet agreed that the money should only be provided if East-West Rail can get funding to cover the rest of the cost of the entrance.

The latest estimate is being kept confidential by the council.

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