WELLINGTON is unlikely to get a new railway station for about ten years.

That is the view of local councillor Andrew Govier, who feels people need to be realistic about the chances of the station re-opening.

Speaking at the latest meeting of the town council, he said he felt it would be about the middle of the 2020’s before any possibility existed of the station being opened again.

It would cost an awful lot of money and depended on the relocation of the Wellington aerosol firm Swallowfield, he said. There was a significant gap between what Swallowfield could get for housing on its rather tight site next to the railway lines and what it would need to move to another suitable location in the area. Funding would be needed from other sources and he felt it would be five or six years before “we can put forward a feasible proposal” to be considered by such bodies as Network Rail.

The discussion about the re-opening of the station was sparked by a letter to the town council from the Department for Transport which stated that in line with its Localism agenda it believed that local councils needed to take the lead on rail improvements that would generate primary local transport benefits. Opening the station in Wellington would fall into this category.

Therefore it was for Somerset County Council rather than central Government to determine whether re-opening the station was the best way to meet local transport needs. In doing so the council would need to discuss the feasibility of a station with Network Rail and the train operator. If a station was feasible and could be served by an existing service, the county council would need to be prepared to fund the cost of the station from funding sources which were available for transport investment.

As part of the summer budget 2015, the Government had announced a second round of the New Stations Fund, making up to £20million available. The fund would be officially opened next year and would be open to bids for stations in England and Wales.

Cllr Bob Bowrah said that letter was very disappointing. “I can’t see the county council funding a new railway station.”

Town clerk Greg Dyke said that the letter had ‘not taken us forward, if anything it has taken us back’.

The station has been closed for more than half a century – it was shut as part of the Beeching Axe which saw hundreds of stations and miles of branch lines being ripped up, including Milverton and Wiveliscombe.