MPs demand answers over railway station re-openings

Liberal Democrat MPs Richard Foord (Honiton & Sidmouth) and Gideon Amos (Taunton & Wellington) have challenged Ministers over plans to re-open railway stations at Cullompton and Wellington, after having been told last week that the projects would go ahead.

Speaking in the House of Commons on Monday 29 July, Gideon Amos MP pressed the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves on the future of the planned re-openings. Mr Amos sought reassurances from the Chancellor that the winding-up of the Resorting Your Railway scheme would not affect projects that were already in progress.

In response, the Chancellor said: “I assure him that projects that have already started, such as the station he mentions [Wellington], will go ahead.”. However, just days later, this appeared to have been contradicted by a letter from the Minister of State for Rail.

Writing to both MPs, Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill stated that the re-openings would not be funded under the programme and offered only a vague commitment to “attempt to consider” the Cullompton and Wellington project, as part of the wider review of government-backed transport initiatives.

In response, Richard Foord and Gideon Amos have jointly written to Lord Hendy, raising the assurances offered by the Chancellor and demanding that the Department for Transport continues to commit to funding this important project.

Cullompton MP Richard Foord said:
“Having spent over two years pressing the last Government to honour its commitments and re-open Cullompton station, I’ve seen the hard work and dedication that has gone in to helping get things off the ground.

“Yet now we find out that, despite direct promises from the Chancellor in the House of Commons, the Department for Transport may be seeking to quietly side-line the project.

“The re-opening of stations at Cullompton and Wellington are vital to ensuring our railways serve the needs of our communities.

“People have had enough of hollow promises. The Chancellor must honour her word and press the Department for Transport to release the funding for the re-opening of these vital commuter stations.”

Liberal Democrat MP for Taunton & Wellington Gideon Amos added:
“I was delighted that the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, confirmed to me in the House of Commons that this Station project ‘will go ahead’. However, recent correspondence from the Department for Transport does not give the same assurance - far from it.

“I’ve supported this project ever since it was put forward by Jeremy Browne in Parliament in 2014 and since Liberal Democrat councillors kickstarted its funding in 2019.

“Together Somerset and Devon have put up over £6 million of the funding. To delay now would be totally the wrong decision.

“I’m going to keep pushing as hard as possible for our station until the Chancellor’s own commitment is honoured and the station gets built.”