Campaigners claim victory as funds finally confirmed for railway station

A MID Devon town will get a new railway station after a ‘significant victory’ in winning funding.

- by BRADLEY GERRARD Local Democracy Reporter

A campaign to build a new station on the main line at Cullompton has been going on for years and campaigners say it is key to unlocking the building of 5,000 homes nearby in the Culm Garden Village development.

Richard Foord, Liberal Democrat MP for Honiton and Sidmouth, which includes Cullompton, said there was an ‘irrefutable business case’ for reopening the station and also welcomed the reopening of Wellington station further up the line in Somerset.

The Chancellor made no mention of the scheme in the Spending Review last Wednesday, but HM Treasury officials confirmed the funding to MPs later in the day.

The new station will be built next to the motorway services at junction 28 of the M5.

Cullompton station initially opened in 1844 and was rebuilt in 1931, before closing in 1964 as part of the Beeching cuts.

The town is also pushing ahead with a £34m relief road for Cullompton which had funding approved in 2024.

Mr Foord has been working with his colleague Gideon Amos, Liberal Democrat MP for Taunton and Wellington, who has been pressing the case for a new station at Wellington.