Local MP Gideon Amos has vowed to keep fighting for Wellington’s new railway station – after a ministerial meeting on the project was rescheduled.
Speaking in the Budget debate in Parliament on Monday (November 4), he said news that planned talks with Rail Minister, Lord Hendy, had been postponed was “an alarming development.”
It has since been announced that the meeting with Lord Hendy will now take place next Monday. Mr Amos, Liberal Democrat MP for Taunton and Wellington, told the Commons: “The opening of Wellington and Cullompton stations is an absolute priority for my constituency.
“No other project is so close to the end of its detailed design and has such a strong benefit-cost ratio – 3.67, according to Treasury figures.
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“The knock-on benefits for housing, transport, employment and investment are huge. Sadly, however, the project is on hold.
“With 2 per cent inflation on a £25million project, it has cost us £1,600 every day since the pause in July.
“The Chancellor told me from the Dispatch Box in July that Wellington station will go ahead, and I hope I will not be disappointed.”
During the debate, Mr Amos also said: "Last week’s Budget and its investment in the National Health Service is, of course, welcomed by the Liberal Democrats, just as we welcome the clawing back of money for carers - where, in many cases, the Government made mistakes - is finally being addressed.
“The raising of the earnings limit is also very welcome.”
He added that people in Taunton, and across Somerset, were waiting to hear about Musgrove Park Hospital.
“Temporary buildings built for the US Army in 1940 still serve as its maternity unit. In the summer, 30C heat causes staff to faint, and rain seeps through holes in the roof during the rest of the year.
“We are waiting to hear whether that project will make it into the £3.1 billion investment plan, as we hope it will. The hospital needs to know so that it can plan.
“I recognise that the government are seeking to provide investment certainty and stability of economic policy, which is something we have not seen in recent years.”