THE future of a planned new railway station for Wellington is unlikely to be known before the spring of 2025 at the earliest.

Funding for the £15 million station had been secured by former Conservative MP Rebecca Pow together with a site near the Longforth Farm housing estate, and it was due to have opened in June, 2026.

But the new Labour Government which came to power in July’s General Election immediately scrapped the fund from which the money would have been provided.

Wellington’s new Liberal Democrat MP Gideon Amos, who defeated Ms Pow in the election, has vowed to fight for the train station to still be delivered and has met Rail Minister Lord Hendy but with no results to date.

Town councillors will be told on January 6 that there were ‘no further updates on the likelihood of the station proceeding’ when a Metro Board of local councillors and officials working on the project held their most recent meeting.

Town clerk Dave Farrow said Mr Amos was ‘maintaining pressure’ on the Department for Transport and emphasising the positive business case for the station.

But Mr Farrow said: “No further progress update is expected until later in the spring.

“The next Metro Board meeting has been set for April 4, 2025.”

The Metro Board had been planning the delivery of replacement stations for Wellington and Cullompton, in Devon, which were both closed in 1964 as part of sweeping cuts brought in by Lord Beeching, which became known as ‘Beeching’s Axe’.