Delight at £5m boost to reopen rail station
RISHI Sunak’s budget funding for the reopening of a vacant Somerset railway station has been welcomed.
Wellington’s original railway station, located on the B3187 at its northern edge, closed in October 1964 as part of the notorious Beeching cuts.
Somerset West and Taunton Council submitted a joint bid with Mid Devon District Council in May to reopen stations at Wellington and Cullompton, which lie on the mainline between Bristol and Exeter.
These proposals have now been given a boost, with this week’s Budget announcement including a £5 million fund towards the project. The Budget outlines these plans as part of a £500 million commitment to “restore transport services lost in the Beeching cuts of the 1960s and improve local connectivity”.
The detail of the transport strategy also further earmarks “£5 million development funding over the SR period to reopen rail stations in Wellington, Somerset and Cullompton, Devon”.
The plans were given a recent boost earlier this year after being singled out in a Network Rail competition to design the next generation of UK train station.
Councillor Mike Rigby, executive member for planning and transportation at Somerset West and Taunton Council, believes that plans to revive it could come to fruition within the next five years.
The reopening of the station is likely to cost in the region of £15 million, although it could be mostly covered by the fund offered by National Rail.
Mr Rigby said: “The fund provides the vast majority of that money if we meet the criteria. Although it’s not a massive building project, anything to do with the railway there is a huge safety element involved. I’m hoping sometime in 2026, we can get on the train at Wellington and take the train to Taunton.”
Taunton Deane MP Rebecca Pow tweeted her delight at the inclusion of the funding for the new Wellington station in the Budget.
She wrote on Wednesday: “Delighted that the Chancellor has listened to the case I put forward with Neil Parish in conjunction with the Devon & Somerset Metro group and has announced £5 million development funding to progress our plans to open rail stations in Wellington and Cullompton.”
Wellington is not the only place where rail services could be reinstated in Somerset in the near future.
Somerton and Langport were both served by trains on the line between Taunton and Castle Cary before their stations were closed during the Beeching cuts.
Chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak MP singled out the two towns in his 2020 spending review, stating the Government could provide up to £50,000 towards a study into restoring rail services to the local area, with Somerset County Council further agreeing to provide another £6,000 on top of contributions from town and parish councils.