15,000 new jobs 'at risk' SHOPS: Rail line delay threatens Friargate scheme.

Byline: Les Reid

PLANS to create 15,000 jobs around Coventry station are under threat because of difficulties securing Government backing for a new train service, council leaders claim.

They say the giant Friargate development could be halted without Government money for a new bay platform at the city's railway station to transport thousands of commuters to new platforms at the Ricoh, Bedworth and Nuneaton.

Conservative deputy council leader Kevin Foster said annual hold-ups for the NUCKLE rail project would make it more difficult to get planning permission for later phases of the Friargate offices and shops development.

But Coventry Labour MPs Geoffrey Robinson and Jim Cunningham said council bosses must now totally rework their plans to secure funding.

Coun Foster accepted that Transport Secretary Lord Adonis's scathing criticism of NUCKLE'S financial viability - reported in Monday's Telegraph - meant there was now little hope of fast-tracking a start date within 18 months.

He said the major implications for Friargate were one reason why politicians and business leaders in Coventry and Warwickshire had rallied behind a campaign to persuade Lord Adonis to provide pounds 12 million and "fast-track" the scheme.

Coun Foster said: "It (NUCKLE) is very important to our overall plan for Friargate. If we're going to create 15,000 jobs, we need to transport people in and out of the development, particularly towards Nuneaton.

"It's disappointing that Lord Adonis and the city's MPs would rather play party political games than stand up for Coventry and work in a constructive manner to get more people back into work."

But Lord Adonis claims NUCKLE lacks a viable business case. He casts doubts over market interest for a train operator to provide extra services on matchdays; believes the building costs have been badly underestimated and would need heavy subsidy; and is unconvinced about crowd control on matchdays at a new Ricoh station.

Coun Foster said the city had proved its ability to handle such crowds, and that three train operators had registered conditional interest in running more trains on the new Nuneaton to Coventry line, which would later be extended to south Warwickshire.

He said the way forward was to "get a package signed and sealed" with Network Rail and train operators to take to Government within nine months.

CAPTION(S):

HIGH HOPES ... An artist's impression of how the Friargate development would look if planning permission were granted.