Millions needed to complete town railway station

An artist's impression of what the new Stanford-le-Hope station could look like

More than £5m is needed to complete a long-awaited construction of a new town centre railway station, a report has found.

A £29m budget was set to build a new station and transport interchange to connect buses, trains, cycles, taxis, and pedestrians at Stanford-le-Hope, Essex.

Funding has been promised from Thurrock Council, Network Rail and train operator C2C with about £13.4m already spent and £17.2m coming from the council.

Last year, the government appointed external commissioners to run the bankrupt Conservative-run council, which had debts of about £1.5bn.

The new station would be built at the site of the existing one on London Road.

An update to the council’s Planning, Transport and Regeneration Overview and Scrutiny Committee, said: "The remaining budget to deliver the design costs for phase two and the complete build costs for both phases is £15.6m."

It estimated that "a further £5.6m" would be needed "to complete the scheme in its entirety".

"Failure to procure the new station building could result in separate financial claims from both Network Rail and c2c seeking redress," the report from council officers added.

Fraser Massey, independent councillor for East Tilbury, said the news had left him "worried".

"Since East Tilbury and Linford have lost the bus service, many more residents will have to travel to Stanford-le-Hope using the station to be able to use the local bus network," he said.

"It has become a perfect storm with a section 114 notice, increased building costs, multiple planning variations, and delays."