LOCAL MP Gideon Amos has vowed to step up his fight for the proposed Wellington Station after a second meeting with the Rail Minister, Lord Hendy, on Monday (November 11).

The long-awaited project is currently under review after the Government announced it was scrapping the Restoring Your Railways scheme.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves announced to Parliament in August that the former Government’s £85 million ‘Restoring Your Railways’ programme would be scrapped as she tried to close an alleged £22 billion public spending gap.

Mr Amos, who also met the Rail Minister last month, was attending a cross-party meeting of MPs from across the South West.

He said: “Importantly, I made sure, at the start of the meeting, to press Lord Hendy on the need for a positive decision on the reopening of Wellington Station, for a clear timescale around funding and for certainty to be restored to the project.

“The Minister made clear that the priority until recently has been focused on the Budget announcement itself and that review work on specific projects - including the Wellington and Cullompton stations reopening project - will now be progressed.

“I will carry on taking every opportunity I can find to fight for a positive conclusion from this review for Wellington.

“For its economic growth agenda to mean anything at all for the West Country, the government must approve the Wellington and Cullompton stations project now before more money is lost as a result of its delay. 

“Better rail access to the national network would bring huge opportunities for Wellington, especially for young people trying to reach jobs and courses. 

“This decision is now overdue, and I won’t be letting the Chancellor forget that she told me in the chamber of the House of Commons in July that it ‘will be going ahead’.”

Mr Amos said the meeting was called with Lord Hendy to challenge the poor services and frequent cancellations of Sunday rail services from Taunton and other Great Western Railway line stations, particularly the threat to journey times posed by works at Old Oak Common. 

He added: “On Sunday services, the Minister agreed with us that the current reliance on voluntary overtime to make them run is not acceptable. I, and we, will hold them to that.”

Wellington’s £15m train station plans were being developed in tandem with a project in Cullompton, with both schemes due to go ahead at the same time.

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

Announcing a review the following 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.”