WIRRAL has been promised a brand new Merseyrail station – but after years of promises, local people remain sceptical.

A train station between Upton and Heswall on the existing Borderlands Line that runs from Wrexham to Bidston has long been promised going back at least ten years when it was mentioned in Merseytravel’s 30 year plan in 2014.

In 2020, Liverpool City Region Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram pledged as part of his re-election campaign to look at building a station near the Woodchurch Estate. Four years later, he has  made the same pledge again but this time with a 2030 target completion supported by £1.7bn of new funding for the new station and two others across the region.

Currently the estate is serviced by Upton station at its north end, but this currently sees one train arrive every 45 minutes, which terminates at Bidston. One person complained that coming back from Liverpool on the train, they had to get a taxi back from Bidston once because the wait was over an hour.

If the station is built, the current plan is to see trains stopping at the Woodchurch more regularly going direct to Liverpool. It’s also hoped a new train station would lead to greater private sector investment in the area and provide a transport link to Arrowe Park Hospital.

However the reaction on the estate itself has been mixed with some sceptical that the plans will ever be delivered after years of similar promises. Others welcomed the news saying it could mean easier trips to Liverpool.

While the exact location of the station is not yet confirmed, Wirral Council previously said it was reserving land near Woodchurch Road at the south end of the estate for a new station. Trish Thornley said: “It would be amazing, my mum told me about the possibility of a station there many many years ago. It would be fantastic to finally see it happen.”

Laura Hughes, who lives on the estate said: “I think it’s brilliant,” adding: “The bus service has been quite limited recently. It will be a lot more accessible for people. The way the bus routes work here, it’s hard. It’s difficult to get to Liverpool, I suppose with the train you could jump on the train to Liverpool. It would make it easier for people.

“I would use the train quite a lot. It’s a lot easier and I would go to Liverpool a lot more. I have got family over there but it’s such a faff to get over.”

At the Woodchurch Pub, Richard Quail said he would use the new train as it would get him quicker into Liverpool, adding: “It would be handy. At the moment, I have to go downtown and get a bus to Liverpool or go to Upton. I just use the bus mainly, they’re fairly good at the moment.”

However, not everyone is on board. Kevin Casey said he wouldn’t get the train as “you can get the bus straight through to Liverpool” from his end of the estate. Others argued it was ironic the station was currently being labelled Woodchurch station when it would be located on the other side of the M53.

Allan Saint believes it will never happen, but added: “The rail would be good. There’s a lot of people that would go to Liverpool on the train. You get off the train in James Street and everything is there.”

Others felt other issues around the estate needed to be tackled first such as the road conditions. Many pointed to the recent decision by Wirral Council to close the estate’s library and leisure centre as a symbol of what they saw as a lack of investment in the area which has previously been called “the forgotten estate in the middle.”

While these decisions are nothing to do with the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority which is made up of six different councils, some felt there were other things the estate needed more investment in.

Sandra Casey said: “They couldn’t keep our baths open, let alone a bloody railway,” adding: “If I had my say, I would have all that money spent on the roads in the Woodchurch. They are disgusting. In some of the potholes, you could literally plant a garden in there.”

Martin Lewis said: “We don’t want a new station. We don’t need a new station, we have one already. We have been promised this before and no one believes it can happen as it’s coming up to election time and all the usual nonsense will be spouted out. We need to be honest here.”

He said: “Look at the state of the roads, the local park. Overgrown with weeds, the grass never gets cut on the estate,” adding: “So please can you try and explain to me and the families what the promise of a train station is going to do to help the children and mums and dads, nans and grandads?”

In response, a spokesperson from Steve Rotheram’s campaign team said the station would provide “a regular, reliable, affordable train service,” adding: “Any historical promises of building a station there would have been pre-devolution and wouldn’t have been backed up with even remotely the same level funding, local authority buy-in or pre-planning.”

They added: “A brand new, fully accessible Merseyrail station connecting the Woodchurch estate to Liverpool and the wider city region would bring residents closer to jobs, education, training opportunities and cultural experiences that may previously have been out of reach.”

When interviewed by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Mr Rotheram said: “We’ve always thought, with the conurbation around Woodchurch and that estate there, there’s enough of the community who will use this station that will make it wash its face. That’s one I was determined to get over the line.”

He added: “It’s all to do with money and we’ve received the funding guarantee and we’ve gone further than what we said we’d like to do in 2020. Woodchurch was one we said we’d like to do, it was an aspiration, we’re saying it’s going to be done now.”