New Skelmersdale railway station ‘compromise’ site backed by transport chief

That was the verdict of Lancashire County Council’s cabinet member for highways and transport, who said a parkway-style station with regular connecting bus service into the town centre would be the most likely way of securing government funding to realise the long-held ambition of reconnecting Skelmersdale to the rail network.

Warren Goldsworthy was responding to a question by West Lancashire East division representative Adrian Owens who asked at a recent meeting of the authority whether the potential for a station to be created at the Pimbo Industrial Estate should be the “focus moving forward” in the wake of a failed bid for cash to create a more centrally-located facility.

In July 2022, the government rejected a strategic outline business case for a new station – drawn up by the county council – which suggested building it on the former Glenburn Sports College and West Lancashire College sites. The estimated cost of that project varied wildly between £210m and £700m.

County Cllr Goldsworthy told the meeting that the proposal – which had cost £5.7m just to compile – was seen as being “too high cost and poor value for money”.

Of the possibility of developing a station at Pimbo, he said the site “appears to be a really sensible compromise”.

“There looks to be about maybe only 50 yards of rail that would possibly be needed and if we compare it to the last [newly-developed] station that’s…comparable – which would be Maghull North [in neighbouring Sefton] – I think that was delivered for less than £30m.

“If something like that could be done – and a very regular bus service for the three miles into The Concourse in Skelmersdale [could be] put together – I think that really is worth investigating and makes a huge amount of sense. And [there is] far more chance of getting it funded,” County Cllr Goldsworthy said.

Skelmersdale is one of the largest towns in the North West without a station. The original sat on a self-contained branch line between Ormskirk and Rainford Junction, offering connections to Preston, Liverpool and Manchester Victoria.

It closed to passenger traffic in 1956, just five years before Skelmersdale’s designation as a ‘new town’ guaranteed an increase in its population.

The meeting heard that the county council is contributing to a Network Rail-led study – due to conclude next year – which is exploring extensions to Merseyrail electric services and which could potentially include a new station for Skelmersdale.