A planned high speed railway station is set to be built in a city centre following pressure from a regional daily.

The Star, Sheffield, has learned a planned HS2 stop will now be built into the city’s existing main station, as opposed to the previously proposed location at Meadowhall, on its outskirts.

Previous editor James Mitchinson, now at the Yorkshire Post, launched the campaign prior to his departure, saying Sheffield was in “grave danger of committing economic suicide” by building an out-of-town station.

It won the backing of, among others, former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan.

An official report, recommending the changes, is set to be published on 7 July.

The plans were revealed on the front page of yesterday’s Star, pictured below, in a story by business editor David Walsh.

He told HTFP: “It was launched by our former editor James Mitchinson and I think we just felt that time was running out, and we had nothing to lose in launching a campaign.

“With something as big as this we didn’t really expect it to be a success, but different sections of the city came together like the Chamber of Commerce, the council and The Star.

“We applied lots of pressure through the articles we wrote, but there were also people behind the scenes – so it was a team effort.”