Gideon Amos steps up station campaign

Local MP Gideon Amos has vowed to step up his fight for the proposed Wellington Station after a second meeting with the Rail Minister, Lord Hendy, yesterday (Monday).
The long-awaited project is currently under review after the Government announced it was scrapping the Restoring Your Railways scheme.
Mr Amos, who also met the Minister last month, was attending a cross-party meeting of MPs from across the South West.
He said: “Importantly, I made sure, at the start of the meeting, to press Lord Hendy on the need for a positive decision on the reopening of Wellington Station, for a clear timescale around funding and for certainty to be restored to the project.
“The Minister made clear that the priority until recently has been focused on the Budget announcement itself and that review work on specific projects - including the Wellington and Cullompton stations reopening project - will now be progressed.
“I will carry on taking every opportunity I can find to fight for a positive conclusion from this review for Wellington.
“For its economic growth agenda to mean anything at all for the West Country, the government must approve the Wellington and Cullompton stations project now before more money is lost as a result of its delay.
“Better rail access to the national network would bring huge opportunities for Wellington, especially for young people trying to reach jobs and courses.
“This decision is now overdue, and I won’t be letting the Chancellor forget that she told me in the chamber of the House of Commons in July that it ‘will be going ahead’.”
Mr Amos said the meeting was called with Lord Hendy to challenge the poor services and frequent cancellations of Sunday rail services from Taunton and other Great Western line stations, particularly the threat to journey times posed by works at Old Oak Common.
“On Sunday services, the Minister agreed with us that the current reliance on voluntary overtime to make them run is not acceptable. I, and we, will hold them to that.”