Calls for rail stations to be built amid urgent need

Many of Somerset's stations were closed due to the Beeching cuts of the mid-1960s

There are fresh calls for two railway stations to be built after the projects were left in limbo when Labour came into power.

Wellington and the Somerset Levels stations could have opened as early as 2026, but funding was halted by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in July.

During a parliamentary debate on Thursday, MP for Taunton and Wellington Gideon Amos and MP for Glastonbury and Somerton Sarah Dyke emphasised the urgent need for government support.

"A station here would serve 50,000 people and reconnect them to the rail network," Ms Dyke said.

The Department for Transport has declined to make a public commitment to either project, with further clarity being expected in spring during the government's multi-year spending review.

Mr Amos described the Wellington and Cullompton project as the most cost-effective station reopening scheme in the country, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Mr Amos says the new station would have the best cost-benefit ratio of any railway station reopening project in the country

"It has the best benefit-cost ratio of any project and could bring £3.3m of annual economic benefit," he said.

He highlighted the project's advanced planning stages, with design work nearly complete and third-party funding secured for infrastructure like roads and car parks.

Meanwhile, Ms Dyke said there was "dire need for a station" in the Langport and Somerton area, which lacks any rail access despite being crossed by a major line.

"Now that the restoring your railway scheme has been cancelled by the chancellor, local residents feel that they are in limbo.

"My constituents desperately want a train station to connect them to the railway, and they need information about that as soon as possible," she said.

Ms Dyke says the Somerton and Langport area has the longest stretch of rail between London and Cornwall that is not served by a station

The DfT acknowledged the importance of the projects but stopped short of committing to them.

Transport minister Simon Lightwood assured MPs that the new transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, was aware of the projects' significance.