THERE are hopes that a planned new £15m railway station for Wellington could still be on track – even though there are huge question marks against the project at Westminster.

It had looked as if the much-wanted train station plans for Wellington were going full steam ahead, but a change of Government at the General Election in July put those aspirations on the buffers with a financial strategy to postpone or even scrap large infrastructure projects across the country.

But members of Wellington Town Council were told at their monthly meeting on October 7 that there might still be a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel for the station plans.

Town clerk Dave Farrow attended a meeting of the Metro Board – which has been fronting the railway station project – earlier this month chaired by local MP Gideon Amos.

And Mr Farrow said: “The general sense from the meeting was rather positive about the railway station.

“A meeting with the Rail Minister (Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill) had gone well and he knew about the business case for Wellington.

“The view from the Metro meeting is that the station project is as well placed as any project if the funding is available.

“The meeting could have been all about the gnashing of teeth and woe is nigh, but I got a lot of positivity about the railway station project as long as the funding is there.

“All is not lost – there is still track to be run on this.”

Mr Farrow has written to Lord Hendy and told him the station is of “fundamental importance to the future growth and economic success of Wellington.”

Councillors were encouraged by Mr Farrow’s comments about the station which has been earmarked for the Longforth Farm area of Wellington.

The plans for the station had progressed so far that there were hopes it would have been open for business in the spring/summer of 2026. That is now unlikely, but councillors will cling to any morsel of hope that it might still happen at some point.

It comes when members of the town council’s planning committee discussed a planning application from the West of England Developments on October 7 for the approval of layout, scale and appearance of an internal spine road, pedestrian/cycle link and associated water drainage works on land north of Taunton Road at Longforth Park – basically a new road which would lead to the planned new station.  

Cllr Andrew Govier said: “We don’t want a road to nowhere if the railway station project doesn’t happen.”

But Cllr Keith Wheatley said that perhaps things might change in five years time and the planned station might be back on the agenda.

“Governments change and policies change and who is to say that five years down the road they might get the train station plans out again and look at it,” he said. “I think if we don’t build the spine road, we would be cutting our own throats.”

Councillors agreed to support the application, although a final decision rests with Somerset Council.