MORE than £600,000 is to be spent in the next 12 months to ensure a new Wellington cycle link can be opened before the town’s planned new railway station is built.

The £20 million station will be built on a section of the Paddington to Penzance track behind the town’s Lidl supermarket.

Bloor Homes is developing a 161-property housing estate on the land between the supermarket and the railway line which will include an access road to the station.

The estate will include new pedestrian and cycling links along its spine road to the Cades roundabout in front of Lidl and from the station car park to the B3187 heading into Wellington town centre.

Somerset Council has now confirmed it will use up to £607,000 of a Government active travel grant to improve existing cycling infrastructure nearby to make it easier to cycle between the town centre and the station.

A council spokesperson said: “Our intention is to construct this Active Travel England-funded scheme by March, 2027, to align with funder requirements.”

The work will provide an off-road cycle link between the centre of Wellington and the Chelston roundabout on the A38, with an onward stretch linking to the Westpark 26 business park.

Currently, a cycle lane runs on the main road from near the town centre as far as the Longforth Farm roundabout, where it then becomes a shared use path for pedestrians and cyclists as far as Chelston.

Funding for the design and construction of the cycle link improvement scheme will come entirely from a grant from Active Travel England, which forms part of the Department for Transport.

Network Rail is expected to submit a planning application for the train station build early in the New Year for a start on construction to allow it to be opened in 2028.