After 10 years of campaigning, in May 2024 Chinley finally made it onto the Department for Transport's Access for All funding list - in January 2026, Rail Minister Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill has just announced that Chinley is off the list.

This is what the DfT now says about access to stations:-

"In May 2024, the previous government announced feasibility work on 50 stations without indicating how the delivery of such schemes would be funded, raising significant stakeholder expectations. This government is committed to a rigorous approach and only making commitments we believe are affordable and would represent value for money to passengers and taxpayers. As such, ministers have carefully considered the findings of the initial feasibility work and have decided which will progress, using the following criteria:

1. Busy stations, where upgrades would benefit significant numbers of passengers.
2. Ensuring a good spread of projects across Wales, Scotland and different parts of England.
3. Making use of pre-existing technical development work.
4. The presence of a third-party funding contribution.

 

QUESTION !  Despite the fact that Chinley station has no level access to any part of the station, would it appear from Lord Hendy's statement above that improvements at Chinley would somehow not represent value to passengers and tax payers?

In Chinley's case, by the way, passengers and taxpayers should be aware that £35.000 of public money has been spent on TWO studies of Chinley station, both of which were commisioned by Network Rail, and both of which concluded that improvements are both feasible and necessary.

Read the full announcement here !

Many members of the public, many regular users of the railway at Chinley, a number of local community organisations, many supporters of the Chinley and Buxworth Transport Group, and a number of elected representatives have expressed their shock about this decision. If on reading this you are unhappy that there are no longer any plans to start critical improvements to the accessibility of Chinley station , do please let your feelings be known !

The members of the Parish Council for Chinley, Buxworth and Brownside can be contacted here 

The details of the High Peak Borough Councillors for Blackbrook ward can be found on this HPBC page 

The Derbyshire County Council member whose district includes Chinley can be contacted here

The Member for High Peak can be contacted here 

This awful news was the focus of an article in the Buxton Advertiser on the 22nd of January 2026. You can read the article in pdf format here