Morpeth Station Improvements (Morpeth & District Liberal Democrats)

Morpeth & District Liberal Democrats <info@morpethlibdems.org.uk>

Morpeth Station Improvements

June 6, 2011 9:33 AM

Lib Dems campaigning for improvements at Morpeth Station Improvements to Morpeth Station are going ahead. Screens are to be installed this year by Northern Rail providing passengers with information about when trains are due to arrive. The scheme to improve access to platforms is also to go ahead with money to be provided from the Government's 'Access for All' scheme. Lifts will be installed to take people to and from the platforms. The new facilities will help disabled and elderly passengers together with parents with young children. The South East Northumberland Rail User Group (SENRUG) is pleased that these projects are going ahead, particularly given the current economic climate, but it is disappointed that its requests for extended ticket office opening hours and more of a staff presence at the station have not been agreed to.

As residents and those who park at Morpeth　Station will know, the car park is now totally inadequate for the　number of rail users. From first thing every morning, overspill cars are　parked nose to tail along　Coopies Lane.　This is affecting　access for residents　and　local businesses as well as making it dangerous for road users. The County Council has now decided to spend the available money, which is limited given the current financial climate, to　provide an additional rail station car park, to re-configure the rail station and improve pedestrian links from the station to the existing bus stops. Designs for these improvements are currently being drawn up and it is hoped that these will be made available for comment in the spring. Further work will then follow on easing traffic and pedestrian access at the Coopies Lane/Shields Road junction using intelligent street design principles that improve traffic flow and safety behaviour for both road users and pedestrians together with visual appearance.