Ruabon station to be nominated again for accessibility upgrade cash – despite investment ‘confirmed’ a year ago

Ruabon has missed out on funding for upgrades to help with accessibility, despite the local MP and AM announcing the funding was ‘confirmed’ on the station platform a year ago.

Llyr Gruffydd AM criticised Ken Skates AM in the Senedd over the announcement a year ago, despite the funding not being secured. Mr Gruffydd pointed to this story from November where it was ‘confirmed major Welsh Government investment in Ruabon Station will include funding for step-free access to both platforms’.

At the time Clwyd South MP Susan Elan Jones said, “Last year I presented a petition to Parliament on behalf of the fantastic Friends of Ruabon Station which was supported by a very large number of local residents. This called for action from the UK Government, but sadly, they did not act. I am absolutely delighted that the Welsh Labour Government has now stepped in and announced this funding for Ruabon.”

It appears the Ruabon funding announcement was in fact a list of fifteen stations being nominated for a share of a Department for Transport’s £300 million station improvement programme fund, and if successful the stations would receive an accessible route into the station, as well as to and between every platform.

This month Ken Skates AM said seven of the fifteen stations nominated were accepted, however Ruabon was not one of them. Overall 73 stations across the UK benefited from the Access for All cash, with the nearest appearing to be Flint.

Llyr Gruffydd AM asked during the Questions Without Notice session, “It’s almost 12 months since then, and that investment hasn’t yet happened. Constituents tell me that they feel that they’ve been misled in that regard. So, can I ask you whether you regret being vocal in the local papers when there was investment, when that clearly hasn’t happened? And do you take responsibility for the failure to implement your pledge?”

Ken Skates AM replied, “Well, quite the opposite. We’ve made available £10 million as match funding for the UK Government’s Access for All programme. We nominated 15 stations for the Access for All programme. We were pleased, of course, that seven of our 15 were accepted, but eight were not — Ruabon was one of them.

“However, I can tell the Member today that we will be progressing, again, with the latest round of Access for All nominations, and those stations that were not included in the last priority list by the UK Government will be put forward again.

“But in addition to this, we’ve also announced that there’ll be £15 million of funding available for stations across the Wales and borders franchise to improve accessibility, and we’ll be looking at those stations where disabled passengers at the moment face the biggest barriers in terms of accessing services.”

“Ruabon station I’m more than familiar with because it’s my local station, and I was bitterly disappointed, therefore, that the UK Government decided not to utilise the money that we, as a Welsh Government, were putting forward for improved facilities. But I do hope that in the spring, when they put out the call for additional nominations, that they will accept Ruabon station.”

Rail infrastructure is non-devolved and the responsibility of the UK Government, and its Department of Transport explained why some stations got the funding and others did not, “The new stations due to be upgraded from this funding … have been selected following nominations from the rail industry, which engaged with local authorities and other stakeholders. We then assessed them against annual footfall, weighted by the incidence of disability in the area, and also took account of local factors such as nearby hospitals and the availability of third party funding. Due consideration was also given to the preferences of the train operating companies and, finally, a number were chosen to ensure a fair geographical spread across the country.

Top pic: The announcement photo from November last year.