Potential rail users are being consulted over a fresh bid to link York villages to the city centre by rail for the first time since the 1930s.

City of York Council was last year unsuccessful in its bid for £2m government cash to build two new stations at Haxby and Strensall from the 1999/2000 Transport and Policies Programme settlement.

The money was shared instead between five non-rail schemes, but this year there is new hope for success.

John Bann, head of transport planning at City of York Council, said: "We have been speaking to the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising (OPRAF) about the new bid and they have been very positive, but they were last time and we'll just have to wait and see."

The latest survey, being conducted by an independent market research company, is costing £7,000 and is intended to be more searching than last year's public consultation, which was completed quickly in order to get the bid in on time.

Potential users from Haxby, Strensall, Towthorpe, Wigginton and Earswick will be consulted during the next month about the possibility of building a station in Lord Moors Lane, Strensall, and at either Haxby Gates or the junction of Station Road with Towthorpe Road, Haxby. Residents approached by the Evening Press expressed mixed feelings towards the plans.

Joy Barrett, who lives in Lords Moor Lane, said: "I think it will be a bit of a white elephant.

"It will serve the residents of the Brecks Lane development but I don't think people from the other end of the village will use it because they don't even come in to The Village to use the shops."

But Alan May, of Station Square, Strensall, said: "It would be marvellous. It would reduce congestion on the A1237 and if there was a stop at Haxby, Clifton Moor and Rowntree's, it would be ideal. I certainly think people would walk the distance."

Others expressed fears that shoppers would not be prepared to walk from York Station to the city centre, instead opting to take the bus.

But both stations were voted winners in terms of linking the villages with main line trains to the rest of the country and the continent.

Mr Bann added: "The cost of the tickets will be slightly higher than the bus but it will take ten minutes by train where the bus takes 30 or 40 minutes, so you are paying for a premium service.

"It will give passengers access to the wider network so people shouldn't just think of it as simply being a way into the city."

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