Poulton-to-Fleetwood railway reopening under threat after key fund axed
A question mark hangs over the long hoped-for reopening of the Poulton-to-Fleetwood railway line following the government’s cancellation of the funding pot that might have helped pay for it.
It is the second Fylde coast rail upgrade facing an uncertain future after the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, axed the Restoring Your Railway Fund (RYRF) on Monday after declaring the Conservatives had left a “£22bn hole” in the nation’s budget.
The project would see the five-mile route reinstated more than half a century after it closed to passenger traffic in May 1970.
The new Labour MP for Blackpool North and Fleetwood, Lorraine Beavers, says she has confirmed with the Department for Transport that the scheme is one of those now “under review” - and stressed that she will continue to campaign for it.
However, Wyre Council’s Conservative leader Michael Vincent believes government promises of consideration still being given to individual RYRF proposals is “a way of [them] trying to deflect some of the grief they’ll get” about the decision to scrap the RYRF.
The previous Tory administration gave the nod for further exploration of a new Poulton-to-Fleetwood link in 2022, using cash from the fund. That put it at a more advanced stage in the approval process than a proposal for ‘passing loop’ on the South Fylde line - designed to allow the introduction of half-hourly services between Blackpool South and Preston - which is also now under threat.
The five-mile line between Poulton and Fleetwood stopped ferrying passengers 54 years ago as part of the infamous cuts made by British Rail chairman Dr. Richard Beeching - although it continued to carry freight until 1999.
For more than 15 years, local campaigners have pushed for the restoration of the route - and have also got their hands dirty by tidying up swathes of the overgrown track and also breathing new life into the closed station at Thornton.
