THE government will pay £4.23 million towards the construction of the new Warrington West Station in Chapelford.

Warrington Borough Council successfully bid for the money against a number of other similar schemes from across the country as part of the New Stations Fund.

The project, which is expected to cost £17.2 million in total, will also be funded by the council, the LEP and contributions from David Wilson Homes and Gemini.

Work has already begun on the station and it is expected to open in 2019, serving more than 800,000 passengers a year by 2025.

The funding boost means the building and car park can be completed without any extra financial support.

Cllr Hans Mundry, executive board member for transport, said: “We’re delighted to have received this substantial funding from the government.

“The quality of our bid clearly stood out against the competition and I’d like to congratulate our officers for the work that has gone into the bid process.

“It shows the confidence the government has in the growth of our town and our success in attracting businesses to Warrington. This is another example of how serious we are about investing in the infrastructure of the borough while we continue to grow.”

Chapelford and Old Hall councillors Steve Parish, Rebecca Knowles and Faisal Rashid said: “This is brilliant news for Chapelford and all of west Warrington.

"As local councillors, we will be keeping an eye on the impact on residents closest to the station, both during construction and when the station opens.

"There will no doubt be some extra traffic coming to the station, but that should be offset by local people keen just to walk to the station and straight onto a train to town, or to Liverpool or Manchester, or even for holidays to get direct to Manchester Airport in 40 minutes.

"We’d like to thank the council’s officers who persisted with this despite many setbacks.”

A spokesman from the Department for Transport said the station will support new housing developments and create leisure, training, employment and business opportunities.

Warrington West is one of five stations to be given the green light by the government and the projects are set to be completed by March 2020.

Read more: Plans for smaller £17.2 million Warrington West station given the green light