A SCHEME to make Menston Railway Station accessible for people with limited mobility will be completed by April next year, an MP has been told.

Shipley MP Philip Davies was given the timeframe by the Department for Transport after raising concerns over the slow progress of the project.

Mr Davies, who campaigned for Menston to get a cash injection from government as part of its Access for All Scheme, has repeatedly raised the issue with transport ministers and Network Rail.

Mr Davies said: “I am pleased we now have a time scale for competition of this vital project. I have been pushing the Department for Transport and Network Rail for answers over this as I believe it has been too slow.

“I have been campaigning on this issue for many years and look forward to seeing it completed and ending the ridiculous situation we currently have whereby both platforms are accessible but only linked via a footbridge.”

The busy two platform station has no lifts or way for a disabled passenger to get from one side to the other, posing problems if someone was to drive and park in one of the multiple disabled bays at the station.

Now the plan is to reconfigure the existing bridge, realign the stairs and install two 11-metre high, stone-faced lift towers alongside the bridge, one on each platform.

Mr Davies added: “Once completed this upgrade to our station will ensure disabled people have the same access to travel as everyone else and will help people travel easily and without additional cost, time or stress.”

Over the years Mr Davies has raised the issue with many transport ministers and also led a debate in Westminster Hall on the issue.