Rotherham Gateway is a part of the much broader solution for better rail connections across the North - Chris Read

Over the last decade, Rotherham has slowly been undergoing a quiet renaissance. We turned heads recently when the Northern Powerhouse Partnership named us as the fastest growing local economy for productivity in the North.

We’ve opened our University Centre in conjunction with two of the region’s most successful universities, attracted big names like to the Advanced

Manufacturing Park, and begun the long-awaited regeneration of our town centre. While the headlines haven’t always been kind to people, even as we’ve come through a brutal period of austerity, we’ve been moving some of the trendlines in our direction.

This week we’ve launched our campaign for the next critical piece of the jigsaw, one which may have a bigger long term impact on the quality of life for Rotherham residents than any other: Rotherham Gateway station.

So what is Rotherham Gateway? At its heart, it is a proposal for a new two-platform mainline rail station at Forge Way, with provision for two additional platforms in the future.

The station will complement, not replace, the existing branch line station at Rotherham Central, delivering fast, direct services to Sheffield and Leeds, cutting journey times to Birmingham to just an hour, and putting us back onto mainline services for the first time since the 1980s. It would interchange directly with the country’s first tram-train service, which already connects our communities into Sheffield.

But it is about much more than trains. It sits within a masterplan that aims to transform the wider area. The development is forecast to drive £52m in local economic growth and support £1.2bn across the wider South Yorkshire Investment Zone. That means more than 1,000 high-value jobs, space for advanced manufacturing, local businesses and 3,000 new homes. In short, the station is the spark that can ignite a much bigger Rotherham regeneration.

We see around us national schemes which are changing track, and Yorkshire Post readers may be more familiar with them than most. HS2 north of Birmingham has been cancelled. Electrification of the Midland Main Line to Yorkshire has been paused indefinitely. Northern Powerhouse Rail delayed.  All the more reason local projects – those we can make happen with local energy and support – must not falter. Rotherham Gateway is one such

project. It’s part of the much broader solution for better rail connections across the north of England, supporting the government to deliver on unlocking serious economic growth.

Crucially, much of the preparatory work is already under way. The South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority has approved £11.35m for developing a Full Business Case, designing the mainline station, tram-train stop, and surrounding transport hub. At full steam, our ambition is to open the station by late 2030.

But ambition counts for little unless we can also demonstrate public support to help us make our case. Delivering our plans will take considerable funding, beyond the reach of the local and regional levers we can pull on. As we’ve seen repeatedly, long term rail schemes can be lost.

That’s why we are asking for your support. A dedicated pledge page, rotherhamgateway.co.uk, has been created where residents, businesses and community groups can find out more about the scheme and formally register their backing. Every pledge shows decision-makers in government the people of Rotherham and the wider region want this project to succeed.

Chris Read is the leader of Rotherham Council.