Lincolnshire county councillor and South Kesteven district councillor says decision to shelve rail funding is ‘kick in the teeth’

A councillor has described the Government’s plans to shelve funding to improve trains in the East Midlands as a ‘kick in the teeth’.

South Kesteven district and Lincolnshire county councillor Richard Cleaver (Ind), who represents Stamford, said the Department for Transport (DfT) has decided not to go ahead with an investment which would create better train connections between the East Midlands and West Midlands.

The councillor said the £1.75 billion Midlands Rail Hub has been scaled back following Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Spring Spending Review. The revised plan now focuses on increasing the number of train services between Birmingham and the West Midlands.

The government said the new project will add 300 trains a day to the West Midlands rail network and includes additional trains from Birmingham to Bristol, Cardiff, Cheltenham and Worcester. The funding comes from money which has been reallocated from the HS2 project which was phased back by the previous Conservative government.

Coun Cleaver said that Lincolnshire has been sent to the 'back of the queue' for transport funding. He added: “Another kick in the teeth for the East Midlands.

"Whoever is in power at Westminster, we always get sent to the back of the queue for infrastructure investment, and any more we do get never finds its way past Leicester and Nottingham and into Lincolnshire.”

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “The business case for the later phases of Midlands Rail Hub is still being developed and will be used to make investment decisions in due course.”