Cullompton's rail station bid remains on track

Local MP ‘glad’ government backs plans

Efforts to reopen a railway station in a Devon town remain on track thanks to a confirmation of funding by the government.

A bid to bring Cullompton’s station back into use has been ongoing for years, and was given a boost last year when local MPs were given reassurance by Treasury officials after the Spending Review that funding would be forthcoming.

But now Cullompton station – alongside Wellington in Somerset – have been namechecked in the Railways Bill, which is making its commute through the Parliamentary process to its final destination where it will become legislation.

In the latest reading of the Bill, the government said Great British Rail, the state-owned railway company, would take “robust decision” to ensure better coordination of timetables, which could reduce delays and costs over time and improve reliability.

“Those decisions could well see the opportunity for new routes or services and, where appropriate, the restoration of railway services that were previously closed,” it said.

“Nothing in the Bill will prevent GBR from doing that; indeed, quite the opposite is true. We have already seen the government’s commitment to doing just that with the continued support for the reintroduction of passenger services on the Northumberland line and the confirmation of new stations at Haxby, Wellington and Cullompton, without the need for a specific restoring your railway fund.”

Richard Foord, the Liberal Democrat MP for Honiton and Sidmouth, whose constituency covers Cullompton, said welcomed the announcement.

“Culllompton and Wellington are the two largest settlements on the line between Exeter and Taunton so it is quite right these towns should be afforded a means for people to walk or cycle to stations that give them access to London via Paddington,” he told the House of Commons in a session on the Railways Bill.

“A station at Cullompton will be key to its economic growth, enabling connections for work and education, and I’m glad to see the government has seen that case.”

Major road routes around Cullompton are synonymous with tailbacks and traffic, and a relief road is already planned for the town to help with congestion in the town centre, while efforts are also being made to secure funding for an improvement to J28 of the M5, which provides access to the town.

Like many train stations across the country, Cullompton was closed as part of the Beeching cuts in 1964, having first opened in 1844. Between those times, it was rebuilt in 1931 before its closure just over three decades later.

Mr Foord has been working on the case for Cullompton station to reopen with local councillors in Mid Devon as well as local business groups, and has also collaborated with Taunton and Wellington MP, Gideon Amos, to simultaneously push the case for the reopening of Wellington station too.