POSITIVE progress is being made on plans for a new railway station in Wellington - with the potential for it to be up and running by 2025.

Somerset West and Taunton Council (SWT) has been working with Mid Devon District Council (MDDC) on bids for new stations at Wellington and Cullompton.

Both stations were closed in 1964 as part of the Beeching Cuts, which saw rail networks across the UK dramatically scaled back.

Now the two councils have submit their formal business cases to the Department for Transport, which will decide whether to take them forward as part of the ‘Restoring Your Railway’ scheme.

Funding of £50,000 to produce the business case was secured last year by campaigners and authorities, including SWT, MDDC, Somerset County Council, Wellington Town Council and others, as well as MPs for the areas, Rebecca Pow (Taunton Deane) and Neil Parish (Tiverton and Honiton).

READ MORE: Business case for re-opening a train station in Wellington submitted to Government

At a meeting of WTC this month, councillors were told that the business case has been received by the Department of Transport who said ‘the revenue impact outweighs the cost of the scheme and therefore indicates a high and financially positive value for money scheme’.

A further announcement from the Department of Transport is expected soon about funding to help the scheme progress to the next stage.

The timetable set out in the business case indicates the station will be in place and services running by May 2025.

Mark Lithgow, Mayor of Wellington, said this was 'positive news' for the town.

"The town council is fully supportive of the project and looks forward to working with SWAT and other partners to continue to move it forward and deliver it," he said.

"It is an essential part of our growing towns transport infrastructure that will bring huge benefits to our residents and attract businesses and employment to the town."

Wellington’s original railway station was located at the northern edge of the town on the B3187 Milverton Road. The council confirmed in October 2020 that the station may be built in a different location, possibly near the ongoing Longforth Farm housing development.

In January, Network Rail cited the two locations as part of a national competition to design the new generation of UK railway stations.