Council hopeful for station despite funding fear

Network Rail recently submitted a planning application for a new railway station in Haxby, with the town's original station closing in 1930

City of York Council said it remained committed to plans for a new station in Haxby, despite the new chancellor's scrapping of a railways project.

A £24m scheme to give the town a stop on the York to Scarborough line was part of the previous government's Restoring Your Railway Fund.

On Monday, Rachel Reeves confirmed the programme would not proceed due to the Treasury's need to find billions of pounds in savings.

The council said it wanted to continue its work with the government and partners "to make Haxby Station a reality", adding it had set aside £4m for the plans.

Ms Reeves said projects to restore lines or stations that had not progressed to the building stage would be halted, though "individual" schemes could still be assessed for feasibility by transport secretary Louise Haigh.

On Tuesday, Ms Haigh said she had commissioned an internal review of Department for Transport spending which would "make recommendations about current and future schemes".

She did not confirm the impact on specific projects.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves says the Conservatives masked the true state of UK public finances then "ran away"

The Haxby Station rebuilding plan was confirmed in 2023, with funding due to come from the Network North scheme.

Haxby's original station closed in 1930, with the proposed new site located on Towthorpe Road.

City of York Council previously said the ambition for a station at Haxby had been "held for many years".

A spokesperson for the local authority said: "We are aware of the announcement from the chancellor yesterday and are awaiting further information from the Department for Transport and Treasury.

"In recent months the Haxby Station project has made significant progress with a planning application being submitted which is expected to be considered in the coming months."

Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter) and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail]