Wellington station project gains traction ahead of reopening plans

-Credit: (Image: Copyright Unknown)
-Credit: (Image: Copyright Unknown)


MPs have met with the Minister for Rail, Lord Peter Hendy, at his office to press the case for the Wellington and Cullompton Stations Project. Gideon Amos, MP for Taunton and Wellington, and Richard Foord, MP for Honiton and Sidmouth, met the minister keep up the pressure on the plans for the new railway stations.

Somerset Council has been working with Network Rail to restore rail services to Wellington, whose previous mainline station closed in the mid-1960s as part of the Beeching cuts.

Funding for the new railway station was provisionally secured in late-2023 following the cancellation of the High Speed 2 rail link between Birmingham and Manchester, with the Department for Transport (DfT) pledging to provide funding subject to a final business case.

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In a joint statement after the meeting on Thursday, September 19, the two MPs said: “We presented a detailed and evidenced case for the project, based on the jobs, housing and growth which would come to the area as a result.

“In response, the Minister listened carefully and was encouraged with the progress made to date and with the initiative taken by the local councils who contributed all the initial funding to get the project off the ground in the first place.

“The Minister promised he would progress the current review of new station and railway projects urgently, and we will continue to push at the highest levels for the reopening of Wellington and Cullompton at every opportunity we get.”

Lord Hendy, formerly chair of Network Rail, told the meeting that the review of projects had been launched because the previous Conservative administration ran up unfunded promises to reopen railways which had created a £2.9billion projected overspend in the Department for Transport alone in the current financial year.

Also attending the meeting with the Minister to support the project were Mr Amos’s Transport Advisor and former strategic planner at Network Rail, David Northey (right) and the Lead Member for Transport on Somerset Council, Cllr Richard Wilkins (left).
Also attending the meeting with the Minister to support the project were Mr Amos’s Transport Advisor and former strategic planner at Network Rail, David Northey (right) and the Lead Member for Transport on Somerset Council, Cllr Richard Wilkins (left).

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves assured Mr Amos in Parliament in July that the project “will go ahead”.

But announcing a review the next day, Secretary of State for Transport Louise Haigh said: “Communities up and down the country have been given hope for new transport infrastructure, with no plans or funds to deliver them.

“I am determined that we build the transport infrastructure to drive economic growth and opportunity in every part of the country and to deliver value for money for taxpayers.

“That ambition requires a fundamental reset to how we approach capital projects – with public trust, industry confidence and government integrity at its heart.”

Following today’s meeting Mr Amos added: “I’m determined we see the Wellington station project, first proposed in the House of Commons by my Lib Dem predecessor Jeremy Browne, successfully completed.

“Richard and I will now be working with our respective councils to maximise support for the project and the Minster has agreed to hear further representations from us on this before the review is complete.”

If the project does move forward, the new Wellington station will be built on land north of the town's Lidl supermarket, with access being delivered as part of a development of 200 homes which was approved by Somerset Council's planning committee west in early-May