Network Rail has been told to “get on with it” after the target to submit a planning application for a train station in Haxby was delayed. 

Haxby station closed in 1930, but plans to reopen it were part of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s ‘Network North’ plan that diverted money from the partly ditched HS2 project.

The original target for the submission of a planning application by Network Rail was January but it has since been pushed back to February 23.

However, a Haxby Town Council spokesperson said: “As completion has now been pushed back to December 2025 in any case, the minor delay in planning will likely not have any impact on the revised date at the end of next year for bringing the new station into use.”

Officers from both Network Rail and City of York Council are due to attend a Haxby Town Council’s public meeting on March 5 “to outline the key features of the planning application.”

Despite the delay only being minor, this has been a frustratingly long-winded project called upon by councillors for decades.

The BBC reported in 2013 that Cllr Dave Merrett said a new station had been an ambition of “successive councils over 20 years.”

Cllr Pete Kilbane, City of York Council’s transport executive, said: “This project is now sat with the Department for Transport and Network Rail and we urge both parties to get on with it. 

“The delays are particularly frustrating given that back in 2022 the old Liberal Democrat administration kept telling us how the council needed to make urgent decisions or lose the project. 

“The reality, sadly, seems to be far from what we were told. 

“However we remain optimistic that the station will be delivered by 2025.”

Cllr Andrew Hollyer, the Liberal Democrat candidate for York Outer at the next general election, said: “Whilst it is disappointing to see the slippage in the scheme timetable due to government delays, the planning application is one of the final pieces of the jigsaw, with the site secured and full funding now promised.

“If the application is approved there should be no further impediments and residents can look forward to a station opening in Haxby by December 2025, if not earlier.”

A Network Rail spokesperson said: “Plans for the construction of Haxby station are ongoing, with a planning application to be submitted in February 2024. 

“We are working towards a completion date of late 2025 and will continue to work with the Department for Transport and City of York Council to progress the project.”

The proposed station has public support, with 81 per cent of 1,200 people who took part in a public consultation exercise supporting the plans. 

When the Network North plans were announced, Cllr Ian Cuthbertson, who represents the Haxby and Wigginton ward, said: “This vital transport link will transform connectivity for residents to the north-east of York via the new station at Haxby. 

“It is imperative that this project now goes ahead without any further confusion or delay from the government.”