Access road for new train station completed - now the wait is on for station itself

WORK on building the access road to Wellington’s planned new £20 million railway station has been completed.

Bloor Homes South West constructed the road, which forms the spine of a development of 178 new homes plus commercial units behind the town’s Lidl supermarket.

It was part of a legal agreement drawn up when planning permission was given for the new homes, but at the cost of the developer being excused including any affordable housing on the estate to help cover its cost.

Work on the third-of-a-mile long road began in March and it runs from the Nynehead Road entrance to Lidl to the site allocated for car parking for passengers using the station.

The station itself is not expected to be built and open until late 2028, with submission to Somerset Council of a planning application by Network Rail anticipated this autumn.

Town council chief executive Dave Farrow said in a report going to councillors on Monday (October 5) the new housing estate, which was the second part of the Longforth Farm development, was being named Lillebonne Place.

However, Mr Farrow said Somerset Council was blocking the town authority’s efforts to have the station road named after the late Richard Fox.

He said: “We have not been successful in getting Somerset Council to change its position on not allowing it to be named ‘Richard Fox Way’.”

Mr Fox, who died on Boxing Day, 2023, was described at the time as ‘one of the last great gentlemen of Wellington’ and was the only individual to have been honoured with the freedom of the town.

He had been a patron of numerous charities and community organisations for decades, and following his death a number of groups received anonymous donations of several thousands of pounds.

Wellington has a ‘Thomas Fox Road’ in Tonedale named after Mr Fox’s great-great-grandfather, who in the late 1700s owned the town’s famous Tonedale Mill woollen business.

But, Mr Farrow said the unitary authority claimed its policy on road naming barred the use of a person’s full name.

However, a new road naming policy is due to be adopted by the unitary council’s administration at a meeting on Wednesday, which will give executive councillors the right to make exceptions.

Mr Farrow said discussions were still ongoing with Bloor Homes over a ‘Station Square’ site which was being gifted to the town council.

Town councillors had wanted to relocate the old Wellington Monument pyramidion - the ‘pointy bit’ at the top - as a centrepiece of the square, which is actually triangular in shape.

The stones were removed when the National Trust carried out a £4 million restoration of the monument in 2021.

But, councillors discovered half of the stonework had gone missing after it was put into storage, so have started looking at other options.