A Middlewich councillor and the secretary of the Mid Cheshire Rail Link Campaign group are hoping much-need funding for a local rail link will help kick-start the project.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak's Autumn Budget and Spending Review includes plans to invest in restoring passenger services on a forgotten South to Mid Cheshire rail link.

The rail plans - which if come to fruition could see direct services between Crewe-Sandbach-Middlewich-Northwich - are part of the government's £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund, which will also see £232 million delivered to twelve projects, including the regeneration of Liverpool's docks and the renovation of Bury Market.

Included in the spending package announced last week was a package of £50,000 made through the Restoring Your Railway 'Ideas Fund' to develop proposals to reinstate passenger links on three North West region routes, including restoring a station at Middlewich which closed in 1960.

Cheshire East councillor and deputy chairman of Middlewich Town Council councillor Jonathan Parry says the money is a "positive move but "we're going to need a lot more".

"Lots of people travel from Middlewich to Sandbach, some cycling, to catch the Manchester trains," he said.

"We're worthy of this investment but we're going to need so much more," said Cllr Parry.

He pointed out the positive environmental impact the project could make saying: "The whole country is being urged to go greener and this is a step in that direction."

Samantha Moore is secretary of the Mid Cheshire Rail Link group and has been campaigning for many years for the link.

"It's a simple fix," she said. "Middlewich to Gadbrook Park at Northwich. "We were expecting this money and it is a step in the right direction.

Sandbach Conservatives say on their Facebook page that in principle, there are two passenger services that could eventually run along the line and provide "value for money".

They say "one is an 'eastern local' package with two trains an hour that would take trains from Middlewich and Gadbrook Park onto the eastbound Mid Cheshire Line towards Knutsford and Altrincham by 2027 .

"This service might eventually be combined with the current Manchester to Alderley Edge line, providing greater connectivity in east Cheshire.

"Meanwhile, a 'north and west' package with two trains an hour could provide Middlewich and Gadbrook Park with a direct link to Birmingham, Crewe , Warrington, Preston and Manchester by 2033."