New station at Grantham (north)?

[Scotty]

It seems as though Downtown are looking to expand their current site just off the A1 at Gonerby Moor, north of Grantham. Part of this is a proposed railway station, on the Nottingham-Skegness line (for the proposed outlet village, plus a park and ride)

Site plan

http://downtowngranthamdesigneroutlet.com/

Brand New Station
Railway station creating 7 minute travel time link to Grantham Town Centre

It's no coincidence that their new MD used to run Springfields at Spalding.

 

[HSTEd]

Well this is vaguely amusing.

As a local of Grantham I can't see this happening ever.
The outlet area might happen (but will be the final nail in the coffin for the town centre) but the railway station is transparently a ruse to get planning permission.

One train an hour each way is not going to get people to use it, and capacity for a shuttle to Platform 3 at Grantham is problematic.

 

[eastdyke]

If there really is a demand for a Grantham P&R - cough-cough, then surely a bus based facilty would provide a more frequent, flexible and economic alternative?

BTW couldn't get the first link to work.

 

[HSTEd]

If there really is a demand for a Grantham P&R - cough-cough, then surely a bus based facilty would provide a more frequent, flexible and economic alternative?

BTW couldn't get the first link to work.

Does this work?

Well buses have nowhere to stop in the town centre apart from a disasterously poor quality bus station that is going to be demolished soon.
Then again trains are out of the town centre too.

 

[eastdyke]

Does this work?

Well buses have nowhere to stop in the town centre apart from a disasterously poor quality bus station that is going to be demolished soon.
Then again trains are out of the town centre too.

Yes - thanks!
Could they not stop at the station?

 

[HSTEd]

Yes - thanks!
Could they not stop at the station?

THe road to the railway station is rather thin and the back road that would have to be used to avoid a turnaround is even narrower.
The thought of an intensive bus service does not fill me with confidence.

And it doesn't solve the problem that the railway station is not really in the town centre.

 

[eastdyke]

THe road to the railway station is rather thin and the back road that would have to be used to avoid a turnaround is even narrower.
The thought of an intensive bus service does not fill me with confidence.

And it doesn't solve the problem that the railway station is not really in the town centre.

OK thanks. I know Grantham station from the rail side very well, used it as recently as yesterday. Only been into town a handful of times.

I doubt whether Grantham actually needs a P&R but if it did then it should be designed so that the only terminus is the actual parking site.

 

[Mugby]

Have they said the whole thing could create 7000 new jobs as well?

 

[Scotty]

BTW couldn't get the first link to work.

Sorted.

 

[DarloRich]

Have they said the whole thing could create 7000 new jobs as well?

Surely Downton Abbey doesn't need that many staff.............

 

[HSTEd]

Been to see the planners exhibition on today and tommorow at the shop.

The station is proposed to have platforms nearly as long as the current main shop.

Make of that what you will

 

[robbeech]

Is there that huge a problem with paths in and out of P3? 1 each way per hour in and out shouldn't take up too much space, and the curve to go out towards Skegness isn't that far from the station, i guess they'd have to make sure it was long enough to take the HST that run on summer Saturdays.
I have no idea what the true demand for this is.

 

[Tetchytyke]

If you have pretensions of building the next Bicester Village, you need a way if getting the train loads of Chinese tourists to your shops.

 

[Class 170101]

Park and Ride to Nottingham maybe?

 

[HSTEd]

Would load more trains onto Nottingham station that seems to struggle with trains from the East as it is.

With platforms as long as the proposal says, you could probably run IEPs out of King's Cross to it after HS2 guts the current timetable.

 

[Class 170101]

Problem is what path would be used between Grantham (Main) and Kings Cross?

 

[HSTEd]

Problem is what path would be used between Grantham (Main) and Kings Cross?

Once HS2 takes away all the Leeds and Scotland traffic, there will be plenty of paths to go around.
There aren't very many other places to send the trains after all.

 

[eastdyke]

Once HS2 takes away all the Leeds and Scotland traffic, there will be plenty of paths to go around.
There aren't very many other places to send the trains after all.

But that is a fallacy!

HS2 only takes away the from and to London on the longest trips. Some of us live in between and still want to be able to get to London, Leeds and Scotland plus all the other points in between.

If passenger growth continues at its current rate, there may be some paths but freight will want a slice of those too!

 

[nuneatonmark]

Had a brief visit to the large Downtown shopping complex at Gonerby Moor just north of Grantham next to the A1. They have planning permission for a large shopping outlet complex to go with what is already there. Part of the plans include a new station on the Grantham to Sleaford line, this line that avoids the east coast main line. The line goes right past the site. They may have planning permission but no start date as far as I am aware, I assume they’ll need a lot of money to get it going. I assume the station must be part of the planning approval.

 

[Lincoln]

Indeed there is quite the fanfare about a new station being developed as part of the headlines. However as always, the devil is in the detail - more so as £125m is earmarked to complete the whole project. Which I suspect wouldn't go very far on a new railway station. The new station is noted as being developed as part of a new 'Park & Ride' scheme.

I've just had a quick look through the planning application on South Kesteven District Councils website, which lists a number of documents associated with it: http://www.southkesteven.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=8170#/application/s17/2155/documents

Looking a bit closer at their Travel Plan Report (attached to this reply), there is an interesting admission in Section 4.2.16 on page 10:

4.2.16 It should also be noted that as part of the wider masterplan for the area, a Park and Ride Scheme is being considered on land to the southeast of the site, on the southern side of Occupation Lane. The potential Park and Ride scheme is in early stages of development, and has therefore not been considered in detail within this planning application.

So it would appear, after all the bluff and bluster, that there is no formal application for a new station at present. Indeed the site layouts have "Aspirational Future Development" noted against the station and Park & Ride.

I suspect it will never happen, but it would be good if it did!

 

[Glenn1969]

Plus Park and Ride doesn't have to be a Railway Station. It could be a bus link to Grantham Bus Station or the existing Grantham station

 

[edwin_m]

An hourly service is no good for a park and ride unless it's very long distance. Would you drive there and risk being held up in traffic and arrive 5min late?