Huge investment in Basingstoke railways proposed (From This is Hampshire)
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Basingstoke set to benefit from £1bn investment scheme
7:15pm Tuesday 8th January 2013 in News
A computer-generated image of a regional headquarters on the Gresley Road site put forward by Network Rail in 2011
BASINGSTOKE is to be one of the hubs in a £1bn investment plan that was announced for the South and South West by Network Rail today.
Some of the cash will be spent on creating the new £50 million signalling centre at Gresley Road, in South View, as previously reported.
The rail infrastructure owner is also planning to renew the track on the lines from Worting Junction near Basingstoke to Salisbury and Southampton, respectively. Platform capacity at London Waterloo for commuters is also set to increase to allow for larger trains. The approaches to Waterloo are also to be overhauled.
All the work is scheduled to be completed between 2014 and 2019, meaning more years of disruption. But Network Rail has already completed its programme of bridge replacement on the diversionary line through Overton, to allow for larger shipping containers from Southampton.
The Gresley Road signalling centre and regional headquarters will be one of just 14 such hubs in the country, replacing 800 signal boxes. It may employ 900 people whose jobs have been moved from other sites, although a planning application has still to be submitted.
If the plans are approved by the Office of Rail Regulation and go ahead, the centre will control signalling in the entire Wessex region of the rail network.
Comments(7)
Buster Preciation
says...
11:22am Wed 9 Jan 13
But to respond to Mr Harvey, 900 jobs for Basingstoke is a mixed blessing at a local level. If all the jobs were taken by people already in the town or within travelling distance then it would be excellent. However the reality is that the majority of them will be taken by those from outside the area. The net effect then would be to add to the apparent lack of local housing.
Best_Name_Ever
says...
12:56pm Wed 9 Jan 13
JJ38JJ
says...
1:24pm Wed 9 Jan 13
ELLIS17
says...
2:27pm Thu 10 Jan 13
Jonty11
says...
10:52pm Thu 10 Jan 13
However just like others, I can't imagine the Labour Ward Members were actually involved in a) finding an employment based buyer for the site or b) negotiating the deal - so taking the credit for it seems a bit rich.
On the subject of rich - as Cllr Harvey raised the issue of the earlier proposal which he obviously did not support - could he advise us how much the Council lost in that deal falling through both in terms of how much was offered for the site the council's abortive costs?
A site for 400 units sounds like a multi-million pound deal.....plus with the councils 40% affordable housing policy, and lots of people on the waiting list, this could have found a lot of people finally getting that home they were looking for. I'm surprised at the Labour objections!
jonone
says...
7:36pm Sat 12 Jan 13
Cllr Paul Harvey says...
9:22am Wed 9 Jan 13
Back in 2006 the Tories wanted to build 440 flats on this land, and introduce microflats, one room accommodation which wasn't big enough to 'swing a cat in', not that I am advocating swinging a cat in any room.
It took a huge campaign organised by the Norden Labour Councillors to defeat the Tories plans, using the old Scrutiny powers of the Council. It never added up financially in the first place and would have resulted in huge blocks of flats being built on the isolated site.
Instead the Council has now been able to sell the land to Network Rail and they have decided to invest in this new facility. It will bring about a new footbridge connecting Basing View and will bring the site back into employment use.
Time can bring about the right kind of investment if you go about marketing the town in the right way.
The Tories killed off Scrutiny after the Gresley Road plans were defeated, but that doesn't change the real point here.
If Labour Councillors had not intervened and fought to keep Gresley Road as an employment site then this investment would not have been possible. That's 900 new jobs potentially for Basingstoke, and it's major investment for the town.