RAILTRACK North West have announced plans to spend a third of a million pounds on a massive facelift for Poulton-Le-Fylde railway station.

The ravages of time and the anti-social behaviour of a small minority have taken their toll on the station, and it has come in for criticism in the past few months.

The original station, reputed to have the longest platform anywhere in Europe, opened in 1840 but was replaced by a new station in 1896 when the track was realigned. Since then it has remained largely unchanged save for the installation of a passenger lift ten years ago. A briefing of the costs and outline of the regeneration work was made to Wyre MP Hilton Dawson this week, when he was told work will include cleaning, repairing and repainting the station buildings, repairing masonry and repointing brickwork. Contractors for Railtrack have now begun the task of restoring the station to provide a much more pleasant facility for the travelling public to use. One aspect of the scheme has raised concern among locals who were worried that a new canopy would replace the original shelter, but Railtrack have said that the ornate steelwork will be retained, cleaned and repainted.

Other renovations will include changes to the car park, drainage systems, landscaping, and roofing.

Mike Cowman, Railtrack production manager, said: "The £374,000 that we are spending on Poulton Station is part of a £1 billion five-year rolling programme that Railtrack is undertaking to regenerate all 2,500 stations it owns nationwide.

"When the work at Poulton is finished at the end of March we will have completed 80 per cent of that programme."

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