Lee Rowley MP continues fight to revive Derbyshire’s Barrow Hill Line and create Clay Cross station

Lee Rowley, Conservative MP for North East Derbyshire, recently met the Minister for Rail in Parliament to continue to press the case for new railway stations across North East Derbyshire.

Back in 2021, Lee helped convince the Government to begin a feasibility study on the reopening of the Barrow Hill Line to passenger traffic which, if successful, would see railway stations reopen after a period of 60 years in villages and towns such as Staveley and Killamarsh.

In addition, as part of the £25 million town deal funding awarded by the Government to Clay Cross in 2019, a feasibility study has also been commissioned on opening a new station in or near Clay Cross.

These feasibility studies have been underway for some time, with the Government granting additional funds for further detailed work on the proposals for the Barrow Hill line in 2022.

Lee has regularly met with Network Rail, county and district councils and others over the past few years – along with the Government on a number of occasions. With the Government looking to make decisions on the Barrow Hill Line in the coming months, Lee recently organised to meet Huw Merriman MP, the Minister for Rail, to highlight the importance of these proposals to North East Derbyshire residents.

“I was really pleased to be able to speak to Huw at length about both the opportunity for the reopening of the Barrow Hill Line and the potential for a reopened station at Clay Cross. I have always said that one of the key things for me has been to improve infrastructure throughout North East Derbyshire – it has always been one of the biggest things that residents have told they want their MP to work on. “Getting wins on infrastructure often takes years but we’ve had successes already with the upgrade to the Royal Hospital, the new school for The Avenue which is coming and the two Town Deals worth £25 million each for Staveley and Clay Cross.

“Now we have the detailed plans for the Barrow Hill line and Clay Cross, we have to make the case for both – which is exactly what I did in my meeting with Huw.

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“We know that money is tight nationally at the moment and there is no guarantee of success, but we have got to be ‘in it to win it’ so I’ll keep pushing in the months ahead!”