PLANS to unlock the planned site of Somerset’s newest railway station have been approved by local councillors ahead of a final decision by central government.

Cherwyn Developments secured planning permission in May 2024 to deliver 200 homes on Nynehead Road in Wellington, with the development providing access to the planned site of a £15m railway station to serve the town.

The station’s future is currently hanging in the balance, with the Labour government beginning a review of major transport projects just weeks after winning the general election in July 2024.

In the ensuing months, two additional plans concerning the station site were submitted to Somerset Council – one for the design of the spine road which will link the station and new homes to Nynehead Road, and one for the ‘station square’ which will greet passengers upon their arrival to the town.

The council’s planning committee west has now given both proposals its unanimous backing, amid fervent lobbying by local MPs ahead of the government’s spending review.

The spine road will extend the existing access off Nynehead Road, near the town’s Lidl supermarket, north-west to just short of the railway line, where land has been allocated for a new car park near the southbound platform of the new station.

A new pedestrian crossing will be delivered along the existing section of road, and the new section will include a designated pedestrian and cycle lane along its right hand side all the way to the new car park.

A secondary shared use path will be provided running due south from the car park to the B3187 Taunton Road, providing a pedestrian link to the town centre and a safe access route for residents on the Cades Farm estate.

These links form a crucial part of the council’s newly-published Wellington local cycling and walking infrastructure plan (LCWIP), which identifies and prioritises key active travel improvements which will be needed over the next ten years.

The ‘station square’, at the eastern end of the new station car park, will include an artistic centrepiece in the original top of the Wellington Monument (which was replaced by the National Trust during its £3.1m restoration of the iconic landmark).

A new mobility hub will be constructed near the square, encouraging cycle use and providing enough turning space for local buses, in line with the adopted Wellington Place Plan.

Both plans came before the council’s planning committee west (which handles major applications within the former Somerset West and Taunton area) when it met in Taunton on Tuesday afternoon (March 18).

Chris Winter, managing director of Cherwyn Developments, told the committee: “We’ve got as good an active travel solution as possible to get from the station car park to Nynehead Road and Taunton Road.

“We are in discussions with Lidl about securing additional land to change the priority [at the junction with Nynehead Road], which is your highways’ team preferred solution to the access point of the site.

“We are under extremely tight time-scales to start on site. If these plans are determined today, we will be instructing engineers tomorrow.

“The whole point of this road going in early is so we’re ready should the government decide to give the station to go-ahead.”

Councillor Gwilym Wren (whose Upper Tone division borders Wellington to the north) questioned what would happen if the Department for Transport (DfT) decided not to proceed with the new station.

He said: “The developer is putting the road in, on the assumption, hope or whatever the right word is that the station will be built.

“Are there any implications for the application as a whole should the DfT or Network Rail decide they no longer wish to proceed with the station?”

Simon Fox, the council’s major projects officer, responded: “There are no implications on this road if the station doesn’t go ahead; it serves the remainder of the site, both the residential and commercial parcels.

“The land is not going to be reclaimed by the developer if this current station project is officially abandoned. The site will remain available should the project resurrect itself in five, ten or 15 years’ time.”

Taunton and Wellington MP Gideon Amos has been furiously lobbying transport ministers to back the Wellington station plans, alongside Honiton and Sidmouth MP Richard Foord (who is pushing for a sister station at Cullompton as part of the wider ‘Devon Metro’ proposals).

Mr Winter said he would ensure the ‘station square’ was delivered in line with the spine road, ensuring that there would not be “pristine paving that’s sat at the end of a road, decaying and deteriorating”.

Around £305,000 has been set aside for the ‘station square’ project, with the land and responsibility for its upkeep being transferred to Wellington Town Council upon its completion.

The committee voted unanimously to approve both sets of plans within the space of an hour.

Under its Section 106 agreement with the council, Cherwyn Developments must begin work on the spine road by June 5 – though it is currently seeking permission to delay this through a separate planning application.

The same agreement states that the developer must complete the work before April 1, 2026 and cannot allow any of the new homes to be occupied until it is finished.

The government is expected to make its ruling on new stations for Wellington and Cullompton as part of its spending review, which concludes in late-June.