PREVIOUSLY confidential documents have been released that list Crewe Alexandra’s football ground as ‘land available’ to make way for a proposed high speed rail ‘superhub.’

The report, titled ‘From rail town to high speed city: a vision for Crewe’, shows the 107-year-old Gresty Road stadium disappearing under a 150 acre plot earmarked for a re-developed ‘urban centre’.

A spokesman for Crewe Alexandra FC said they were not issuing a comment on the plans, which claim 5,000 new homes and 20,000 new jobs would be created by a development worth £3 billion to the South Cheshire economy.

The report, de-classified this month, was produced for a meeting in July 2012, during which political and economic leaders put forward their case to Government for Crewe to be served by an underground hub station under the second phase of HS2.

The ambitious proposals were signed off by Cheshire East Council leader Michael Jones and Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership Board chairman, Christine Gaskell.

Accompanying architectural plans produced by Terry Farrell, who designed London’s Charing Cross station, illustrate a completely re-designed Crewe centre, complete with skyscrapers and trams connecting to the Basford employment areas south of the town.

Silhouette’s of famous Liverpool and Manchester landmarks trumpet the town’s suitability for a HS2 hub equidistant between the North West’s major cities.

The report promotes instigating a re-designed ‘green grid’ landscape through Crewe aimed at promoting walking and cycling.

The Government’s current preferred option for Crewe currently rules out a new HS2 station, but clr Jones has said he intended to ‘lobby hard’ for the hub station - raising questions about the future of Gresty Road.

This week, Clr Jones, said: “We very much support Crewe Alexandra FC and do not want to do anything of detriment to the club.”

He added the there were no plans to move Crewe Alex from their ground ‘at this time.’

 

The document can be viewed at:- https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/from-rail-town-to-high-speed-rail-city-a-vision-for-crewe

 

HS2 at present:

HS2 splits into a Y shaped network to Manchester and Leeds north of Birmingham, bypassing Crewe in a tunnel under the West Coast Main Line.

A junction at Basford will enable HS2 trains to stop at Crewe’s existing station, continuing on to serve Liverpool on existing rail lines.