Just had this notification from the Reopen Beeston Station Facebook Group – it al looks quite positive and will be a shot in the arm for the Tarporley Ward ‘Connecting the Dots’ transport project – Well done to Michael Flynn and the group;

Success

Yesterday evening the DfT announced that we have been successful in our bid to the Beeching Reversal ‘Ideas Fund’ for resources to progress the project to the next stage of development.

This is just the start of a long process, but it is a major achievement for all of those who worked so long and so hard to prepare an outstanding proposal.

There were over 50 bids submitted to the Department and, only 15 have been successful in progressing to the next stage, so this is a major vote of confidence in the project.

I would particularly like to thank our local MP Edward Timpson for his unswerving support and sponsorship, without which this success would simply not have been possible.

The award is for £50,000 towards developing a formal business case, and also comes with the pledge of Department for Transport support to ensure that the next phase—a submission to the Stations Fund for funding to construct and commission the station—is robust and capable of approval.

The next step is for us to establish a more formal organisation and I will be posting about this and asking for volunteers to fulfil various roles in due course, but for now, it’s time to celebrate this first success in the journey to getting our station reopened!