Regional transport plan unveiled for Lancashire

This all sounds good but is very vague so depends on what actually gets proposed and built. Ridiculous that Skelmersdale has no train station but pursuing that is likely a waste of LCC’s time given it’s been previously rejected by DfT.

Whilst I’m all for improving transport connectivity, I am concerned that there is a lack of “joined up” thinking between the neighbouring Combined Authorities. For example, Preston is just 30 mins from Southport and many residents travel to Preston by car for employment and education – however Southport sits inside the Merseyside CA – so how are the two CA’s dealing with that? The same can be said for parts of East Lancashire who may travel to West Yorkshire.
Rail transport between Southport and Lancashire is dire, so bus services are key to ensuring connectivity between the two areas, which in turn will help to reduce reliance on car.

Analysis of issues and a long list of proposed transport policies to align with tackling those issues, but zero infrastructure proposals.

Will Skelmersdale ever get a railway station? When Merseyrail extended the Kirkby line to Headbolt Lane that was intended to further extend to Skelmersdale and provide a rail link into Liverpool for so many who moved to the New Town years ago, but of course the Tories binned it.

Still to Preston focused need for major investment in rail links from Skemesdale to Liverpool and electrification of Blackburn Manchester line

How about Skelmersdale and the rest of west Lancs?

New bridge over the River Ribble at Howick Cross, Penwortham should be the absolute priority.

Lancashire needs (SELRAP) The Skipton to Colne rail link.

I believe it is imperative that we electrify the rail line from Preston through to Skipton, ensuring that East Lancashire is joined to the rest of the country. I am aware that the chances of that happening is nil. We in Blackburn are in the back woods, that is Blackburn’s fault with continuing bad councils over the years, moaning about the decline of cotton, but doing nothing to surmount these problems. There are many examples of towns with similar issues, but have grown, I travel around many towns and cities. For instance Bury is very close to Manchester but is thriving.

I cannot find any proposals to improve roads in Lancashire as most goods transport is by road and private travel by car. For example the A59 should be upgraded and the M65 extended and relit. I certainly think proposals for improved rail transport are welcome.

Where is the connection to and from Skelmersdale??

As usual with anything at a County level, it’s almost as if Lancaster isn’t in Lancashire.

How will this communications plan link into Bolton, which is without a metro service?

Lancashire transport planning without Liverpool and Manchester? Sounds daft, is daft. Blame Whitehall, yet again.

Why no mention of Burnley Clitheroe or Pendle. Are they are they excluded from improvements. Is reopening the Colne Skipton rail line being considered and improving the awful rail service to Pendle.

Early morning transport options are key for getting people to work from town to town that would in turn cut congestion because as it stands if you don’t have a car and you start work before 7am and live more than 5 miles from a workplace you don’t stand much chance of getting to work the ironic thing is a hundred years ago you did!

Sounds really progressive and will be a big bonus for the area

What about. Barnoldswick? Since the M6 bus became only once an hour and does not go via the M65 it, now takes Burnley
Collage students nearly an hour to get there. Ridiculous.

Can’t believe how hard it is to get from Teesside to Blackburn or Colne took hrs.Traffic ridiculous

The cost of charging EVs on public networks is extortionate at present. In some cases 10x that of home charging. This needs regulating if you wish EVs to be the norm.

Seems ridiculous that there’s no plan to link up public transport from East Lancs to Liverpool better. It’s not very good to Manchester, but it’s none existent to the other large city in the North West.

Glad to see that it mentions there’s going to be a focus on connecting Blackburn, Chorley, and Rossendale with Manchester. That should be the main focus for these areas as connectivity with the rest of Lancashire is pretty good, but not over the West Pennine Moors where Britian’s rapidly growing second city sits on our doorstep. All those towns and including Darwen under the Blackburn umbrella are turning increasingly into commuter towns, and the transport needs to reflect it.

I disagree with a previous comment. There is absolutely no need for a new rail station in Skelmersdale. There is still Upholland station. It sits adjacent to the main industrial estates of Pimbo, Skelmersdale which are built on land taken out from the parish of Upholland anyway. All they need to do is the closest industrial unit to this station rebuild it as a new rail station/terminal. Link it to electric or hydrogen bus services that route through the town in the same way the 60 series services did in the 1970’s. Cheaper, greener and more useful than a new rail link from Rainford to Skelmersdale. Also still convenient to use for commuters out of town and in to town for the main industrial estates. Let’s be honest about it. A rail link in Skelmersdale won’t bring high tech/skilled jobs to the town like the previous MP used to claim. It will allow people to commute to Liverpool and Manchester where they have major universities and high tech research companies. The majority of people coming to the town would be to existing companies based in Pimbo and Gillibrands estates. The concourse and Sandy Lane shopping centres are not something people will come to Skelmersdale by rail for shopping trips. HGV’s already come in off the M58 straight in to the main industrial estates. It’s the way it was designed as a new town to separate the domestic housing from the main shopping area and away from the industrial areas. A much better policy than a new rail link in to Skelmersdale itself is the return of the old 60 series bus routes or similar and a terminal building with good covered access to the existing local rail station and make the ‘circular’ buses route via the housing areas and the train station at times linking up to the train timetable and vice versa

The m65 is the motorway that needs to go through Yorkshire and connect to m62 .

Will Garstang ever get it’s railway station back?

More frequent Mainline buses from Nelson are needed.

They need to spend the money on the existing roads and increase the resources for hospitals and doctors surgeries. These councils must be making a fortune from planning permission for new builds and counc tax increases. The existing roads …most of them are in terrible conditions and don’t look any different when they are supposed to have been repaired. The contractors they are using these days don’t seem to know what they are doing. There is work going on where I live at the moment and it’s a joke watching them. Councils have all their priorities wrong they need to get a grip on their strategies and employ staff that can do a job. Just fix what’s broken and leave the rest its just money wasted.

Whatever the outcome it will probably end up with two new stations for Mcr and a couple of new MAN airport links. Everyone else gets new cycle tracks.

What do they mean by “workflow”? In fact you could do all of us a service by translating the rest of it into plain English.

Leslie Winthrop.. Bury and Blackburn are different in their local management.. those that have the strongest votes in Blackburn are multiple car families.. transport is down on the list

It’s like Lancashire is an island all on its own .. integration to other services would encourage more funding..
What’s more.. Morecambe.. any improvements looking forward to the eden project? Local transport so it’s easier for visitors to get to the centre when they are staying a bit further out

Guided busways would be cheaper than trams to install across our county. City’s like Preston have already cleared space by pedestrianising roads in the city centre. Reopening old rail links like the Southport Preston line.

People saying what about roads? It’s a transport plan, ie public transport!

Re-build the Southport to Preston train line, that would be a sensible and beneficial option.

We are not looking after what we already have. Our footpaths in the rural areas are overgrown.

So much talk in the past about re-opening the rail link to Rawtenstall. Is this on the new agenda?

What about air links from Squires Gate airport?

Surely a strong focus should be to connect better and faster to Liverpool and Manchester

As ever Skelmersdale is ignored. When the buses went on strike a couple of years ago it was effectively isolated if you don’t drive, many on minimum wage could not afford taxis to and from work. It is one of the largest towns in the country with no train station

Build a bridge to join Edith Rigby Way to the A59 at Howick.

No mention of inter regional rail connections like reopening the Skipton to Colne rail line even though it has a good business case and has been one of the priorities in transport planning.
SELRAP has now been working on this since 2001, projects should be on a first come first served planning process whereby they have a good chance of success, reopening this line is way beyond this in fact in many circles it’s clearly that it’s a no brainer.

This is word soup and it lacks any clear commitment towards resolvjng the obvious problem -increasing the frequency and reliabilty of buses/trains etc. People don’t want fake (and money wasting) strategies. They want more buses and trains,especially the sort that leave on time and charge a fair price. Best to keep a clear focus on that

Blackpool airport could and should be part of any Lancashire improvemet plans.

Skelmersdale needs a train station

Bus routes: Don’t focus on linear links systems that require changes, but a nodal system to enable direct travel. Eg. Can’t travel directly between Darwen and Preston.

For years we’ve been promised 2 trains per hour on the South Fylde Line between Preston and Blackpool South, which includes the Pleasure Beach.
This would be via a new rail loop built around Ansdell & Fairhaven.
Blackpool North is well serviced but it’s a poor offering for Lytham St Annes and Blackpool South.

I feel that I have heard all this before The time scale is the next 20 years and all of it will depend on central government finance.Given that Labour favour public funding for such projects and the Conservatives prefer private investments there will inevitably be stop/go progress Neverthe less, best of luck

What is happening for Fleetwood? Promised a railway link and let down again. The town needs its own railway

@October 08, 2025 at 9:14 pm
By Toni-Lee Isaac

There was the Restoring Your Railways initiative (which reopened lines in Northumberland and Devon) but this got cancelled by Rachel Teeves last autumn.

Personally, I’d use the Fleetwood to Poulton track to extend Blackpool’s trams on (and do the same in St Annes and Lytham).

A Fylde Coast Metro can then be created.

Can we get colne to Skipton line reopened

Please reinstate the colne to skipton railway line the pleas to reinstate it have been ignored for far too long

We need more transport options in Skelmersdale, we only have arriva that covers the main routes, but they cancel buses routinely if a bus is needed in Liverpool. When they went on strike Skelmersdale was left with no public transport for over 3 months. In Skelmersdale if you don’t have a car you’re stuck, arriving need competition to ensure Skelmersdale residents get the public transport they deserve.

It would help if the Combined Authorities actually looked like they were coordinating. They’re inferior to the North West devolved model from Blair’s government in my opinion. But… literally anything in rail improvements across whatever they’re calling Lancashire here would be welcome and a shock at this point!