Transport Minister Lord Adonis has told local political leaders that there is no immediate prospect of additional funding being made available to re-open the Lewes-Uckfield rail link.
The meeting in London on Wednesday (14th January) was arranged by Norman Baker MP and also attended by Charles Hendry MP, County Councillor Rupert Simmons and Rupert Clubb, Director of Transport and Environment for East Sussex County Council.
The meeting was arranged so the Minister could be brought up-to-date on the Network Rail report on the re-opening of the link, which shows that reinstating the line is technically possible, and that it is only the Government's guidelines on required rates of return which make it uneconomic. Under the present formula, the line is shown to make an operational profit, however, the problems relate to covering the reinstatement costs.
On a more positive note, the Minister did offer to collate some information with other reopened lines and also agreed to look at Lewes-Uckfield as part of his East Croydon study, but he indicated that even if more money was made available, it would be unlikely to be used to fund the scheme.
Charles Hendry stressed the level of local support from most local parishes for the link and asked the Minister to consider including the rail link in the range of projects the Government is bringing forward as part of its package to boost the economy. The Minister ruled out this option.
Norman Baker said, "The Minister was left in no doubt of the strong support locally, across all parties and all councils, for the reopening of the Lewes-Uckfield line.
"He was also left in no doubt about our frustration with the present formula the government requires to be used to assess rail schemes, a formula which makes it virtually impossible for any to proceed. For instance, the formula calculates the loss of tax income from fuel duty from those people who are expected to transfer from road to rail, and counts that against the scheme. Ministers have accepted that the assessment formula is flawed and are reviewing it, but they need to get a move on.
"However it shouldn't frankly be necessary to wait for this review to be completed. The government says it wants to identify public sector projects in which to invest to help counter the recession, and here is a much needed one where a great deal of the work has already been done."
Charles Hendry added: "This was a disappointing meeting and it seemed the Minister was simply going through the motions of listening to us, but without any realistic intention of giving greater support to the rail link."
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