Full steam ahead for railway station plans (From Worcester News)

Full steam ahead for railway station plans

4:40pm Monday 24th September 2012 in News By Richard Vernalls, @rvernallsWN #worcsnews

IT is full steam ahead for plans for a railway station to be returned to its former Victorian glory – with a modern twist.

Councillors in Malvern were giving their views ahead of next month’s Worcestershire County Council planning meeting, when the £500,000 revamp of Malvern Link station is set to get a rubber stamp.

At the meeting, Malvern district councillors welcomed the plans and waved them through with unanimous support.

Paul Tuthill, vice-chairman of the southern area development control committee, said the station had been out-grown by demand, with passenger numbers up from 200,000 to 250,000 in the last five years.

Under the plans for the Worcester Road station, the ticket office and waiting rooms will be over-hauled, disused gates will be opened and a new ramp installed to help people with disabilities have full use of the platforms.

The station will also be tidied up in sympathy with its own heritage – not least as it also sits within the Trinity conservation area, meaning there are special rules governing how buildings must look.

Coun Tuthill said councillors had also passed on their feelings that “as far as possible, it’s important people waiting on the platforms are sheltered from the elements”.

“In a perfect world, for example, the over-hanging roof would be a mirror of the covering at Great Malvern, but we understood that doing that within budget at Malvern Link is very ambitious.”

Coun John Smith, cabinet member for transport at Worcestershire County Council, said: “We are obviously very pleased that Malvern Hills District Council has approved the plans with some slight amendments.

“We will look at those and see if we can incorporate them into the scheme.”