LEGAL steps are being taken to protect the proposed site of a new Wellington railway station following the Government’s axing of funds for the project.

West of England Developments (WoED) is legally bound to hand ownership of the site to Network Rail, which was to have built the £15 million station until the project hit the buffers when the Autumn Budget was set, before the developer can start to construct 200 homes on nearby land.

The housing site, which lies behind Wellington’s Lidl supermarket on Taunton Road, will provide the necessary finance for an access road to be built to the station site and allow for a ‘station square’ development.

But, with the station stalled due to the lack of funding, Network Rail has refused to accept the transfer from WoED, leaving the developer in a stalemate situation.

Now, the company is asking Somerset Council to amend a legal agreement to allow it to start building the houses while making ‘reasonable endeavours’ to transfer the station land to the council, or being allowed to hold onto the site itself until the funding became available.

It further wants to be allowed to give the ‘station square’ land to either to Wellington Town Council or county council along with £305,000 for the authorities to develop the site themselves.

In the suggested amendments, WoED said they aimed to maintain the intent of the document’s intentions “i.e. to ensure the station can be delivered,” but they hoped to alter the development timeline “to reflect the current situation.”

WoED said the situation left it unable to guarantee the start of the station access road construction by June 5 this year, as required in the current legal agreement.

However, the company said it could still have the road completed by the agreement’s target date of the end of April, 2026.

The Wellington Weekly News reported last year how plans for a new railway station hit the buffers as the new Labour Government announced it would not fund the £15 million project.

The station, which was initially due to open in June, 2026, was also facing an end of August deadline for £800,000 to be found to complete the detailed design within budget.

The Chancellor had announced to Parliament she was scrapping the former Government’s £85 million ‘Restoring Your Railways’ programme as she tried to close an alleged £22 billion public spending gap.

A meeting also took place in Parliament with the secretary of state for transport, Heidi Alexander, to discuss the project to reopen Wellington and Cullompton Stations last month.

It was arranged at the request of MPs Gideon Amos (Liberal Democrats, Taunton and Wellington) and Richard Foord (Liberal Democrats, Honiton and Sidmouth) whose constituencies host the respective station sites.

They were able to present the benefits of the scheme including its 3.67 benefit cost ratio according to treasury rules, understood to be the best such rating of any station project in the country.