Cheshire County Council - Chester Rail Gateway Homepage

Cheshire County Council ceased to exist on April 1st 2009 when its services and responsibilities transferred to Cheshire East Council and Cheshire West and Chester Council.The pages and documents through this website may contain branding and information relevant to the old councils, but are being made available because they are still relevant to our customers. We are continuing to update all materials on the Cheshire east and Cheshire West and Chester website and aim to remove all references to the old Councils by the end of the year (2009).

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Chester Rail Gateway Homepage

Plans for the Upgrade of Chester Rail Station and Adjoining Areas

Introduction

Chester's historic General Station is one of only twenty two Grade I and Grade II* listed railway stations in the whole of England and one of only three in the northwest region. The building is of outstanding national and regional significance and is one of the principle nineteenth century monuments in the city. The station is not only a distinguished architectural statement but is also an important historic entity in terms of both industrial archaeology and social history. The station forecourt, surrounded by the façade of the station itself to the north, the Queen Hotel and its passageway to the south east and the listed public house to the south west, is a potentially impressive and attractive public space which could be a key townscape feature of the City Conservation Area.

Funding

Cheshire County Council’s Local Transport Plan has committed money for 2007-08. The County Council has confirmed at the annual budget council meeting that £1.5 million will be invested into this project. Press Release: Council Approves Investment In Chester Rail Station.

This money will be used to upgrade the station forecourt.

Forecourt Plans

In October 2005, five options for the station forecourt were drawn up with a no change option too. Following consultation, Option A was selected as the preferred design layout for the forecourt. Click on the links below to see the final layout and artists impressions of what the forecourt will look like.

Chester Rail Gateway - Detailed Forecourt Design Plan

Chester Rail Gateway - Forecourt Artists Impression 1

Chester Rail Gateway - Forecourt Artists Impression 2

Chester Rail Gateway - Forecourt Artists Impression 3

October 2005 Forecourt Plans

The original forecourt options which where consulted on can now be viewed at the bottom of this webpage in the archives section.

Concourse Plans

Arriva Trains Wales have committed money to improving the concourse of the station; Revenue ticket barriers have already been installed, and other improvements will now follow including customer information displays, lighting, toilets, signing, and general cleaning/restoration of the station buildings. Network Rail has now started renovating the roof above the station concourse. Following completion of the roof works Arriva Trains Wales will relocate their ticket office to the east side of the concourse. The current ticket office will be replaced by a new retail unit.

Click on the links below to see the final plans and artists impressions of what the concourse will look like.

Other partners in the project include the English Heritage Trust and the Railway Heritage Trust who have both committed money over 4 years to improve a range of works to buildings around the Station.

Consultation

Following on from the successful consultation events which were held in the Mill Hotel, Chester in October 2005 and the Queen Hotel in June 2006, some very useful comments and responses to the proposed options were raised. The main objective of the event was to gather feedback on the detailed design for the forecourt and the concourse of the rail station.

The results of the consultations are available for viewing at Backford Hall, Backford, Chester, CH1 6EA. If anyone should wish to see them please contact Dave Thomas on 01244 973960 or at david.thomas@cheshire.gov.uk.

Click on the link to view the most recent exhibition stand.

Latest News

Work begins on June 11th on a £1.3 million project to transform the road and footway network outside Chester Railway Station. Click on the link to view the Press Release.

In June 2006, Building Design Partnership (BDP) produced a Facilities Report which gives a summary of the different elements of the rail station improvements. View Facilities Report

Chester City Council as the development and planning authority aims to facilitate the regeneration of the station quarter through private investment. The following link will take you to the Draft Development Prospectus.

A recent lottery bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) by Chester City Council has been successful in securing £550,000 to help improve the funding. Click on the following link to see the official press release. Progress Report: Heritage Lottery Fund awards funds for Chester Station.

At a recent Cabinet meeting, Chester City Council discussed the forecourt plans relating to Chester Rail Gateway (Item 139). Members were informed on a number of issues namely; next steps, the consultation process, funding and the car parking strategy.