Rayleigh and Wickford MP, Mark Francois, has warmly welcomed an announcement from the Department of Transport (DfT) that they will fund the rebuild of Wickford station, which will now begin within the next few months.
A month ago, Mark had a meeting with Rail Minister, Huw Merriman MP, at Westminster where he pressed the case to get on with the rebuild of Wickford Station. At that time, the Minister explained that funding for this purpose had been included in Abellio Greater Anglia’s business plan for 2024-25, which was still awaiting final sign-off by the Government.
Mark was very pleased to subsequently receive a letter from the Rail Minister, dated the 23rd April and which the Minister personally hand-delivered to his office, confirming that the rebuild will now go ahead, in this new financial year (which began in early April.) The next step will be for Greater Anglia to go out to tender for a builder to undertake the project, which should then commence later this year, with completion, in the financial year 2025-26 (which begins in April of 2025.) Mark is also due to meet with the management of Abellio Greater Anglia later this week to confirm more details of the scheme.
Commenting on this very welcome news, Wickford’s MP, Mark Francois said:
“I have been persistently pursuing this issue both with Abellio Greater Anglia and the Department of Transport for around two years, so I am delighted we now have official confirmation that the station will be rebuilt. I’d like to thank the Rail Minister, Huw Merriman MP, for paying personal attention to this and I look forward to discussing the final details of the project with Jamie Burles, the Managing Director of Abellio Greater Anglia, in my Westminster office, later this week.” Rail Minister, Huw Merriman MP, added: “I’m pleased to be able to confirm funding for the redevelopment of Wickford railway station. Mark Francois has spearheaded this campaign and played an instrumental role in this outcome through his meetings and interactions with me and Greater Anglia. Thanks to Mark’s hard work, this critical upgrade is secured for his constituents.”
