Road and rail networks have long been a problem at Aston Villa and, with the club expanding its capacity at Villa Park, BirminghamLive spoke to the man who can make improvements, Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street
Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street says city officials need to stump up the cash to make much-needed improvements to Witton Railway Station in light of Aston Villa’s stadium expansion.
Villa has had planning approved to increase capacity from 42,000 to just over 50,000 which will see an entirely new North Stand built. It’s part of the club’s £100m investment to improve Villa Park and the surrounding area. A new multi-purpose commercial building – Villa Live – will also be built while, across Witton Road, Villa’s £8m inner-city academy is set to be complete at the end of July.
It means Witton and Aston will become a lot busier on match days and, to cope with extra footfall and demand, Villa chiefs want the help of Transport for West Midlands to make Witton Railway Station – among the closest stations to a stadium in the Premier League – much bigger with additional services added to make traveling to and from Villa Park far easier than it currently is.
Speaking previously, Villa’s CEO Christian Purslow said of the need to improve Witton station: “Until Brentford’s stadium opened, we had the nearest station to a Premier League stadium in the country but, as our fans attest, it is small, poorly serviced by the frequency of trains and the scale of trains.
A supporter said previously: “The owners, Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens, need to know about what’s going on given the fact they want to increase capacity at Villa. It needs highlighting, it really does. It just makes you angry thinking about the battle to get home.”
Improvements to Witton and Aston train stations will fall on the West Midlands Combined Authority which is headed up by Mr. Street. The Mayor expressed his desire to make Witton and Aston fit for purpose when it comes to shuttling football supporters to and from Villa’s iconic stadium. Mr. Street pointed to the example of Perry Barr train station which was completely renovated at a cost of £30m ahead of the Commonwealth Games. The redeveloped station at Perry Barr took just 12 months to complete.
Speaking to BirminghamLive about the need to improve Witton station, Mr. Street said: “We’re all absolutely supportive of what Villa want to do. We need to find the cash for it and to get the detailed plans drawn up to go through planning approval. I expect that we will be able to do it because it’s the right thing to do.
“You saw how good the refurbishment of Perry Barry station was and how quickly that’s been done. There’s no reason why we can’t do the same here.
“What we’re hoping to achieve, of course, is when people arrive it’s much better and easier. Also, we want a sense of pride; you’re arriving somewhere special. You don’t get that at the moment when you come here. Then, the actual access from the stadium to the ground should be a really good, enhancing walk.”
With regards to Villa’s new North Stand redevelopment, BirminghamLive has been told that construction work will only start once plans are in place to dramatically improve Witton station.
Mayor Mr. Street, meanwhile, spoke to BirminghamLive yesterday about the issues Villa supporters have been having involving the congested road and rail networks. He said: “The wonderful thing is that the club is working with the city to look at the whole area around Villa Park. But I would like to see more people come via public transport. That’s the easiest way as the ground gets bigger.
“It’s even more important that is done; [Witton] station and indeed Aston. That’s the real solution [to the travel problems].”
He added: “We’re also going to need to think about car parking in the total travel plan for the ground at 50,000 and, obviously, the wonderful aspiration for this to be a Euro 2028 venue as well. We will need to think about those things. But Witton station is the No.1 priority.”
Villa is at home on Saturday against Bournemouth with rail strikes in place. Currently, the last train before kick-off (3 pm) from Birmingham New Street to Witton is 12pm. After the match, there’s only one train back to New Street and that’s at 7.53 pm. A statement on behalf of West Midlands Rail said: “Industrial action is taking place on March 18. As a result, services will be running to amended timetables. Find out more at wmr. UK/industrial action.”
After Bournemouth, Villa’s next match at home is against Nottingham Forest (April 8, 3 pm), and, again, rail disruption is in place. The Aston Villa police account tweeted: “Just made aware of rail disruption to Aston station affecting the Nottingham Forest game on Saturday, April 8. Engineering works over the Easter period – Lichfield to New Street – will be serviced by a bus replacement. Walsall service will run as normal stopping at Aston.”
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