HS2 station options revealed

EIGHT potential sites for a possible HS2 parkway station in South Yorkshire have been revealed.

The site chosen could become a station with a 1,700-2,000 space car park.

The eight options put forward for the proposed high speed rail route through Aston, Bramley, Mexborough and the Dearne Valley — which is open for consultation until March — were revealed at a council meeting in Doncaster.

The proposed sites for the station are Bramley, Hooton Roberts, Mexborough, Wales, Clayton near Doncaster, Hickleton, Fitzwilliam near Wakefield and Hemsworth in Wakefield.

The parkway options were revealed at a HS2 presentation at Doncaster Council on January 20.

An HS2 spokesperson said: “In response to calls from local leaders, HS2 has been commissioned to identify options for a parkway station in the region, in order to further spread the considerable benefits that HS2 brings.       

“At this early stage, we have identified eight locations for a potential parkway station. There are numerous factors to take into account when determining the right location, such as access to the station by road, rail and public transport as well as environmental considerations.   

“We are working closely with local authorities and Transport for the North to identify the right solution for the region and are confident of making good progress.

“Any proposal would be subject to public consultation.”

The spokesperson said that the parkway stations are not part of the current consultation on the high speed rail route.

Grant Morement, Hooton Roberts and Firsby HS2 Action Group coordinator, said: “HS2 have yet again proven that they have no idea what they are doing, no interest in serving the people of Yorkshire and no respect for the rules of public consultation.

“To announce further changes to a design that has already been deeply criticised, this late into consultation with no supporting documentation is deeply concerning.

“Hooton Roberts, Firsby, and its surrounding neighbours are all in the same mind, that this consultation has been compromised and that a public inquiry should now take place before further disruption to the public is caused.”

Rhonda Job, chairman of the Joint Rural Parishes which represents a number of villages in the west of Doncaster against HS2, also hit out the parkway proposals.

She said that the eight suggestions put forward for parkway station sites were mooted at the first stages of the HS2 assessment for South Yorkshire, and dismissed.

She said: “They are all remote and don’t work.

“If you want a parkway station you want it at a location where the vast majority of people can actually get to.” 

Mrs Job said that building a parkway station in Mexborough would involve knocking down all of the Shimmer estate and in Bramley there would need to be many more demolitions of homes.

She said: “At the moment this is a scoping exercise to see whether a parkway is a viable location.”