So, the Stoke to Leek Line is no more, axed by the new Labour government as part of a cull of infrastructure projects, which included a road tunnel under Stonehenge and a destructive by-pass around Arundel in Sussex. No-one would like to see a shift from road to rail more than Moorlands Climate Action, but in truth, few people ever believed reviving this line for passengers was likely, or the best use of scarce public funds.
We have not personally seen the feasibility study prepared by consultants, but this is what we reliably understand it came up with when the numbers were crunched: of the eight options examined, seven delivered poor value for money and just one scraped past muster, being appraised as ‘low’ value. That option was to combine one train per hour between Leek and Stoke with a freight service from the Aggregate Industries cement plant and quarry at Cauldon Low. Even on that basis, the line could not be self-financing, once capital costs were taken into account, but would depend on public money (the cost of which has risen since the study was completed).
The study apparently says the whole line would effectively have to be rebuilt, as would a number of bridges and other structural elements, including a new bay at Stoke. The planned line from Leekbrook Junction to Leek itself has received planning permission but shows no signs yet of being built, perhaps partly due to the cost of unforeseen sewerage work in the Cornhill area.
The last rail waggons left Cauldon Low in 1988, and whether Aggregate Industries could ever have been persuaded to resume shipments along a rebuilt line is a very open question. As a company they have gradually increased their use of rail, but their Cauldon plant largely supplies the more dispersed consumer market, unlike, say Breedon’s Hope Valley site. That has focused very much on large-scale infrastructure projects (such as the ironically cancelled HS2) where point-to-point rail delivery makes more economic sense.
Aggregate Industries also has a very hefty and expensive Carbon Capture project planned for Cauldon; that makes the case for capital expenditure for rebuilding the rail sidings much harder to make, particularly as the captured CO2 will be exported by a newly built pipeline. So, the old railway line stands disused and is likely to be so for the foreseeable future. Some have suggested light rail, but the study examined that option and in the absence of freight (which couldn’t run over lighter lines) the numbers didn’t stack up.
The most sensible option now would seem to be a cycleway taking people from Leek into the heart of the Potteries. It wouldn’t deliver many of the benefits a rail line would (only investment in buses could) but would enhance tourism and leisure opportunities in a beautiful part of the Moorlands currently held hostage to (diesel and coal-fired) pipedreams.