Cottingley Rail Station

March 2023 update:

The new White Rose Rail Station is currently under construction, adjacent to the White Rose Office Park and close to the White Rose Shopping Centre. This new station is being constructed on the Leeds to Dewsbury section of the main Transpennine rail route, approximately 800m south of the existing Cottingley Station.

It is not possible for trains to stop at both Cottingley and White Rose as the stations are so close together. Cottingley Rail Station has been identified as the least used station in Leeds, due partly to its poor connectivity to the wider community and lack of step-free access. As such, the preferred option for the future of Cottingley Station was determined to be the replacement of the existing station with the new station at White Rose. This proposal included improving walking and cycling routes linking Cottingley to the new station and Shopping Centre.

Extensive consultation has taken place with local communities, including public engagement in 2018 and 2019 on initial proposals for the White Rose station and consultation regarding the future of Cottingley Rail Station in 2021. Additionally, engagement with stakeholders on both the White Rose proposals and the intended closure of Cottingley Rail Station have taken place, with no objections received from statutory consultees. Details of the Cottingley consultation can be found below. You can also read more information on White Rose Rail Station.

In line with Railway Closures Guidance issued by the Department for Transport, a proposal to close a station must be submitted to the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) for ratification. The Combined Authority submitted a proposal to close Cottingley Rail Station to the ORR early 2022. This proposal included a technical appraisal for the case for closure and a report on the public consultation conducted in 2021.

Following the ORR’s station closure appraisal process, a station closure response from the ORR has now been released. This confirms that in line with the Railways Act 2005 (the Act), the proposal satisfies the criteria set out in the relevant part of the closure guidance issued under the Act and ratifies the closure of Cottingley Station, to be replaced by the new White Rose Station.

The information below was previously presented as part of the consultation regarding the future of Cottingley Rail Station.

West Yorkshire Combined Authority has considered the closure of Cottingley Rail Station due to the construction of a new, more accessible station 800m from Cottingley at White Rose. White Rose Rail Station will have extensive walking and cycling routes to and from the wider community.

For these reasons, the preferred option is to replace the existing station at Cottingley with a new station at White Rose, with extensive walking and cycling routes linking Cottingley to the station.

White Rose Rail Station

The new rail station is being constructed in south Leeds on the Leeds to Dewsbury section of the main Transpennine rail route, 800 metres south of the existing Cottingley Rail Station, near the White Rose Office Park.

The new station at White Rose will serve local communities, commuters to the office park, Elliott Hudson College and visitors to the White Rose Shopping Centre.

The station proposals have been shared on two occasions, where the public were invited to provide their feedback and views. Since then, the planning application for the new station has been approved, designs have been finalised and construction begun in March 2022.

Access to White Rose Rail Station

The location of the new station has a wider catchment area than the existing station at Cottingley. It will continue to serve the existing Cottingley catchment, in addition to serving the population of Churwell, Millshaw and Brown Hill. Existing users of Cottingley who access the station from the North will incur some additional walking time to access the White Rose station. However, there are extensive provisions within the design to improve walking and cycling routes linking the station to nearby settlements.

Your feedback

We conducted various consultation sessions to gather your thoughts about the proposals for Cottingley Rail Station.

Webinars

We held a series of free online webinars on the future of Cottingley Rail Station in July, August and September 2021. These webinars sought to provide the public with an opportunity to learn more about the plans for Cottingley and White Rose Rail Station. Details of these webinars, and select recordings are available below:

Drop-in sessions

We also hosted a drop-in session at White Rose Shopping Centre on Thursday 19 August 2021. The session gave people an opportunity to talk to the project team about the future of Cottingley Rail Station and complete a consultation survey, as well as providing an update on the new White Rose Rail Station.

White Rose Office Park

Additionally, a dedicated display of the proposals has been available for public viewing in the Planning Cabin located at White Rose Office Park throughout the consultation period.

Public Consultation

A survey was made available online between Monday 12 July 2021 to Monday 4 October 2021 for the public to provide their feedback on the proposed plans for Cottingley and White Rose. The results of which are available in the consultation outcome report.

Stakeholder Consultation

Following identification of additional stakeholders with station access agreements for Cottingley Rail Station, a further consultation took place between July and October 2022, from which no comments or queries were raised. An addendum to the Consultation Outcome Report on The Future of Cottingley Rail Station has been published, detailing the results of this additional consultation and is available in the consultation outcome report.

Contact

If you are having difficulty accessing the consultation results, or need the report in an alternative format, you can get in touch via:

Email: yourvoice@westyorks-ca.gov.uk

Telephone: 0113 245 7676 (Metroline information service)

Post: FREEPOST CONSULTATION TEAM (WYCA)