Sir - The argument for a parkway station at Norton is intellectually flawed and yet another example of our County Council wasting money in pursuit of inept transportation schemes.

Apart from a handful of business people who may use it as a park & ride to London who will benefit from an additional stop on the Hereford - Paddington service?

The principle issue is that trains to London via the Cotswold line are too slow and infrequent and if parking is the issue this could be addressed by a multi-storey car park on redundant land behind Shrub Hill station with direct access to the platforms.

However, Worcester's economic prosperity depends upon closer links with Birmingham as it is our nearest major centre for industry and commerce, the source of most employment opportunities and provides access to an international airport. The virtues of improved rail and road connectivity between Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield were extolled by the Chancellor's speech in Manchester hailing the advent of a 'Northern Powerhouse' and the same principle albeit on a smaller scale, holds good for Worcester being part of a â'Midlands Powerhouse'.

The folly of our forefathers in declining the opportunity of access to the Bristol - Birmingham line such that Worcester is bypassed by the cross country route is history. Parkway will not address the problem as it is too remote from the city centre and the County Council Transportation team should focus their attention on achieving improved frequency and speed of trains via the existing Droitwich/ Bromsgrove line.

Trains currently travel the 26 mile journey in 47 minutes at an average speed of merely 33.2mph. An average speed of 60mph would reduce journey times within 30 minutes and connectivity in the longer term with HS2 would reduce journey time to the capital to less than 2 hours which will never be surpassed by the Cotswold Line.

Mr Robert Hartwright

Worcester