Ilkeston may well be on the road, or should that be rail to recovery, after news was released that funding has been secured and a station is set to be built in 2014.
With the national news dominated with the high speed train network, it’s refreshing to see some politicians seeing the bigger picture and focusing in the regional areas, especially Ilkeston which will greatly benefit from a station.
It’s one extreme to another though, as it’s been made common knowledge that Ilkeston used to have 3 stations, and is the largest town currently without a station.
So what does that mean for the town now?
It opens the door for local people to travel quicker, to and from the town and into the City. It will have a positive impact on unemployment in the area, and with the college underway in town, there are sure to be more and more people walking up and down the high street. Could we turn those empty shops into open stores and encourage new businesses to trade in Ilkeston.
From my point of view, I will look forward to the impact it will make with the football club. It paves the way for football supporters to travel to Ilkeston by train, and as an away fan, there is now the choice to use the train as part of the journey to clubs up and down the country.
It doesn’t seem all that long ago that I first set up the page on Facebook that called out to over a 1000 supporters who agreed that Ilkeston needed a station.
It wasn’t just a page that had the support. It encouraged discussion about a possible station in Ilkeston and brought the people of Ilkeston together.
So much so that the news made front page of the Ilkeston Advertiser and since then, the local paper took on this campaign, which reached out to more and more local residents and made headlines.
Jessica Lee was key to pushing this through parliament and her personal interest and drive to see this through certainly helped the campaign.