A group of Sawston Councillors and residents has been brought together by Anthony Browne, MP for South Cambridgeshire, to bid for Government funding for a new railway station to service the village.
The Sawston Station Working Group will submit an application for funding from the Department for Transport to build a business case for a brand-new station in Sawston. Mr Browne has already discussed the potential new station with ministers, and he and the Work Group have had preliminary discussions with Department for Transport officials.
Sawston is one of the few villages in South Cambridgeshire to have a railway line run past it, but without the trains stopping. The railway line from Liverpool Street to Cambridge runs past the end of Mill Lane in Sawston, close to the site of the old Spicers factory. With the government already committed to a new station at Cambridge South, a new station at Sawston would mean the village is just two stops to Addenbrookes and the biomedical campus, and three from the City centre station.
The Working Group will apply for the funding as part of the ‘Restoring your Railway’ initiative, a £500 million pot to help reconnect towns and villages across the country. Through the ‘Ideas Fund’, communities can bid for 75% of costs up to £50,000 to help fund a transport and economic scoping study, which would then be followed by a full business case. If successful in the funding bid, the Working Group would get a sponsor at the Department for Transport and Network Rail. Future funding to build the station would then be subject to the business case. Under the Department of Transport rules for the scheme, the bid for funding has to be sponsored by the local MP.
The case for a Sawston station has support from both local County and District Councillors, and the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority.
Anthony Browne MP commented: “We know our villages can and should be better connected. I am working hard to make it easier for people in South Cambridge to travel to work and shops. A new station at Sawston is one part of the solution, and I will make as strong a case as possible to government and ministers. With a growing population, it makes economic sense to add stations to existing lines.”
Kevin Cuffley, chairman of Sawston Parish Council and County Councillor for Sawston, said: “Sawston has long been keen to have its own station, and with growing housing and traffic the case for it is getting stronger. It takes people in Sawston far too long to get into Cambridge to work or shop, and a new station could dramatically cut travel times. We already have the railway line, so installing a small new station should be straightforward and cause minimal disruption.”
James Palmer, the Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, added: “Opening new stations on existing railway lines is an important part of improving transport connections in Cambridgeshire. We are already opening a station at Soham, and it would be good to open one in Sawston.”