Bid to ease traffic woes
Money set aside for new probe
A councillor is hoping money set aside to fund a study on ways to ease traffic congestion will examine the possible re-opening of Bannockburn Station.
Money to fund the probe is coming from the £2 million Transport Scotland local rail development fund.
Tayside and Central Scotland Transport Partnership, known as Tactran, and Stirling Council submitted a joint bid for a share of the cash to assess options for cutting traffic entering and leaving Stirling city centre.
As the Observer reported last month, the study will examine the possible benefits of moving Bridge of Allan Station to the town’s southern edge so it could also serve Causewayhead and Cornton as well and provide a strategic park-and-ride function.
Officials are to examine the proposals as they seek to identify ways of reducing congestion in Stirling, where during the morning rush hour commuting accounts for almost half the total car trips into and out of the city centre.
Bannockburn Station, on the line between Stirling and Larbert, was opened in 1848 by Scottish Central Railways and closed to both passengers and goods traffic in 1950.
Developer Springfield Properties announced in January plans to build, over three decades, more than 3000 homes on 662 acres of mainly farmland at Durieshill, between Plean and Bannockburn.
And the South Stirling Gateway proposal, included in the area’s Local Development Plan, earmarks 800 homes for land between A872 Glasgow Road and the A91 at Corbiewood, south of Bannockburn.
While Taylor Wimpey Homes and Omnivale want to build a total of up to 500 homes at Berryhills , Cowie.
Bannockburn SNP councillor Alasdair MacPherson added: “I have long supported re-introducing a rail stop in Bannockburn, so I’m delighted to hear about this funding There is significant house building planned in my ward over the next few years.
“I would be very surprised if the feasibility study does not conclude that it is required on sustainability grounds alone.”
A council spokesman said: “We have been allocated funds to conduct a feasibility study into improving transport choices for the people of Stirling, further investigating options already included in our Local Transport Strategy and Local Development Plan.
“Among the options being examined is the prospect of a new railway station south of Stirling but the location has yet to be established.
“Stirling is one of 10 areas across the country benefiting from grants totalling £681,000 from Transport Scotland’s Local Rail Development Fund.”
It is not the first time that providing Bannockburn with its own station has been looked at. In December, 2008, the Observer reported that Bannockburn was in the frame for a new railway station but the proposals have so far come to nothing .