The Leader of Warwickshire County Council has advised that residents may need to wait until the 'latter part of this year' for services to resume fully at Kenilworth Railway Station.

Speaking at today's (March 16) full council meeting, council leader Cllr Izzi Seccombe (Con, Stour and the Vale) said she has held meetings with operators West Midlands Railway as well as MP for Kenilworth and South Jeremy Wright.

"The nature of the conversations have been very helpful. All of us have fought extremely hard for this line and we are not about to let this go, and that has been the basis of our meetings with them.

"They have actually been very receptive, and they are as committed to making this work as we are."

After discussing training and Covid issues facing WMR's workforce which were sited as contributing factors to the closure of the line in January, Cllr Seccombe said: "They want to do a phased return, getting workers back in and then start training. And I have to say that I don't think the problem is going to be just with this line, it is going to be a national issue.

"They are anticipating, fingers crossed, that they will have the line back up and running in the latter part of this year."

Concerns were raised by Cllr Jenny Fradgley (Lib Dem, Stratford West) who asked: "What actions have been taken by WCC since WMR, with Department for Transport approval, suspended the services in the third week of January, to get a firm timetable and criteria from WMR for trains to be operated again to and from Kenilworth?

"And what action is being taken now and in the next few weeks by the county in conjunction with West Midlands and Warwick district and Kenilworth town council to ensure that the service does not just return to its pre-Covid level of unreliability, but quickly gets to a level where tourists, residents and shoppers trust it sufficiently to use it regularly enough so that it can start to return on the massive investment made by taxpayers in 2018?"

Portfolio holder for transport & planning Cllr Jeff Clarke (Cons, Nuneaton East) reassured the council that WCC is committed to a full reopening of the line from Leamington Spa to Nuneaton.

He said: "WMR have outlined that they are looking for ways to maximise the route once it is reopened. WCC will look to support these initiative wherever possible, particularly given the financial investment.

"We are committed to ensuring that wherever possible and as soon as possible we will restore services, working with the relevant agencies to ensure that that takes place."

Today's meeting comes less than a week after a WMR representative spoke to Kenilworth Community Forum last week to discuss the reopening of the station.

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