MPs push for more details on station cash

WEST Country MPs are pushing the Government for more details on the funding of two new railway stations following the outcome of the recent spending review.

- DANIEL MUMBY Local Democracy Reporter

Railway services will soon be calling at Wellington in Somerset and Cullompton in Devon for the first time since 1964 after the Treasury confirmed last Wednesday that both projects would be funded by the Government.

Local Liberal Democrat MPs Gideon Amos (Taunton and Wellington) and Richard Foord (Honiton and Sidmouth) have now written to Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves MP and transport secretary Heidi Alexander MP to clarify how much money is being provided for the two stations.

Work to begin delivering the spine road which will link Wellington’s new station to Nynehead Road is expected to get under way in the autumn.

However, Network Rail has not yet been able to confirm when it will be submitting detailed plans for the station itself, or how soon it intends to start on site.

In his letter, Mr Amos said the Treasury's statement “leaves a lot of key information to be clarified” and argued that only providing partial funding would demonstrate a lack of common sense.

He said: “It would not be sensible, from the Government's own point of view, to provide only a proportion of the funds required for the project.

“Only partial funding, given the £5m of matching funding already contributed, would take away the key benefit of both stations being built and operational within two years, given that detailed design work is all but completed.