A FULL business case for Wellington’s new railway station has been submitted to the Government, with a planning application imminent, the Wellington Weekly can reveal.

Network Rail, which has been working with a Metro group of local councillors and other stakeholders, has put the case for funding the station to the Department for Transport (DfT).

The Government has said it will ‘fund to delivery’ the new station, which is estimated to cost £15 million and will be built on a stretch of railway line running past the new Longforth Farm housing estate.

Local MP Rebecca Pow, who chairs the Metro group promoting the project, said: “The project has so far received £5 million funding from the Government’s Restoring Your Railway programme and I am delighted to have worked with the DfT to achieve this.”

Network Rail intended to submit the business case in January, but further work was required on a proposed railway timetable, and to make sure the design was integrated with proposals for nearby residential and business development and Somerset Council’s plans for a mobility hub close to the station.

The company also expects later this month to apply for planning permission for the station although any decision would not be expected until later in the year, after ecological surveys were completed.

Further work on the station project will now be subject to approval of the business case and funding from the DfT.

In the meantime, Network Rail said it would continue to work with stakeholders, keeping everybody updated on progress.

Ms Pow said: “Having championed the station since becoming the MP, I will of course keep up the pressure both locally and in Westminster to ensure the project progresses.

“The station will be a genuine game-changer for my constituents and our area more widely and I want to see it come to fruition at the earliest opportunity.

“It was heartening that the Prime Minister himself recently gave his commitment to the scheme.”

The Metro group has also been working on plans to re-open a station in Cullompton, Devon, which is also part of the full business case.