On Thursday the news about the Uckfield train line was finally admitted by a Government Lords based Minister, Charolotte Vere. This response came almost two years since Chris Grayling made a statement about the same issue when he was answering a similar question raised by Nusrat Ghani the MP for Uckfield who is now also a DfT Minister. On 13th July 2017 she asked:

“The Gibb report put forward a solid business case for the electrification of the Uckfield line, which runs through my constituency of Wealden. Will the Secretary of State meet me and local campaigners to get this project on track?”

and Mr Grayling stated:

“I am very happy to meet my hon. Friend, and I absolutely recognise the issue. The other part of deliberations around the Uckfield line is the private-sector proposal, which I have said we will happily look at, to create BML2—the Brighton main line 2. We should look at all these things in the round and ask what is the best future for that route, but I am very happy to meet my hon. Friend.”

Of course he could have been a great deal clearer at the time and that would have ensured that businesses and residents from Uckfield would have come to terms with their disappointment at the time whereas they are now having to do so after waiting for two years to find out more.