Plans have been submitted for the first new train station in the Wigan area for 60 years. Proposals for the construction of a two-platform station at Golborne have appeared on the council’s planning portal.

They include a pedestrian life and bridge, parking, lighting, landscaping and public realm areas. Play area provision in the field south of St Thomas Church of England Primary School is also part of the plan.

The station will be on the West Coast Main Line, five miles south of the Wigan North Western station and a mile north of Golborne Junction – near to the site of the previous Golborne station which closed in the 1960s. It will provide access to services running between Wigan and Staylybridge via Manchester Victoria, subject to Government approval.

“It will significantly reduce the typical current journey time of over an hour for local residents to get into central Manchester,” a design and access statement says. “As well as improving accessibility to employment and educational and leisure opportunities, and reducing journey times into Manchester, the development has been designed to be complimentary with the Golborne Masterplan.”

The masterplan is a programme of wider public realm improvements designed by Wigan Council to promote the regeneration of Golborne town centre and to support new development in the area around the station. Plans are for he construction of a ‘non-staffed’ station with two platforms and a new ‘access for all’ footbridge connecting an entrance and a car-park on the west of the tracks.

Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said “This will be massive for Golborne. It will give the village a new lease of life. It’s an area where people struggle to access public transport.”

If the plans are approved, the £32m build should start in 2026, with the new station scheduled to open in 2027.