New £10.55m Horden train station plan approved

The council hopes the new station will be open by the spring of 2020

Plans to build a new £10.55m railway station in east Durham have been approved.

Work on platforms and a 139-space car park at Horden, near Peterlee, is due to start in the next few weeks, Durham County Council said.

It is hoped the new station on South East View will be open to passengers in the spring of 2020.

The council said a public consultation saw almost 99% of respondents in favour of the station.

Chief Executive of the Coalfields Regeneration Trust, Gary Ellis, welcomed the news.

He said: "Not only does this provide further evidence of the positive steps forward that the community is taking, but also that attention is being redirected to an area that requires it.

"We know that this investment will have many positive benefits, not least the employment opportunities it will bring for residents."

A new access road, footpath and cycleway will also be installed as well as a footbridge to connect the 100m-long (330ft) platforms.

Trains will stop hourly in both directions and the council said forecasts predict up to 70,000 passengers a year could use the station.

The council said a public consultation on the plans in 2016 saw almost 1,400 responses, with 98.6% of people saying they would use the station if it was built.

The National Trust said it supported the plan as the station would make the conservation's charities sites on the Durham coast "more accessible".

The project is being developed by the council and Network Rail with funding coming from the council, the North East Local Enterprise Partnership and a £4.4m government grant.

Horden's original station on the Durham coast line opened in 1905 but it was closed in 1964 as part of the Beeching cuts.