Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government why Access for All funding is not being made available for Pokesdown railway station; and what criteria were used to select those stations included in the list published on 4 April.

Pokesdown was not nominated for this funding as South Western Railway already have a commitment in their Franchise Agreement to install lifts to the footbridge linking the platforms. This is currently due to be complete in early 2020.

Stations were selected based on their annual footfall, weighted by the incidence of disability in the area.　 We also took into account local factors such as proximity to a hospital or the availability of third party funding for the project.　 We also chose some stations to ensure a fair geographical spread of projects across the country.