The Department of Transport has confirmed plans for a train station in Corby, potentially unlocking around £200m of development in the Northamptonshire town.
The announcement follows a 17-year campaign to bring the station to the former steel town.
North Northants Development Corporation, the area’s Urban Regeneration Company, will submit plans next month, and expects the station to open in December 2008.
Chief exective Bob Lane said the one-hour link to London St Pancras will be critical in helping to regenerate the town.
Lane, who previously headed the town’s regeneration vehicle, Catalyst Corby, has been eager to attract Lyons Review relocations and other office users, but says the absence of a train station has been a major handicap.
“It’s four years since Catalyst Corby launched its regeneration framework and today’s announcement is a genuine landmark,” said Lane.
“The station will provide added impetus for residential development, as well as aiding the transformation of the town centre’s retail sector.”
Lane believes a new business zone will evolve around the station, bringing in at least £200m of retail and office developments in the short-term.
The new station will be built next to the former station, which closed in June 1990.
