Gideon Amos pens letter to Chancellor to ensure Wellington Station is fully funded
It's after we're told "further details will be set out" around funding.
Gideon Amos MP has written to the Chancellor and Transport Secretary calling for the new Wellington Station to be fully funded by the government.
After last Wednesday’s Spending Review, a Treasury official said that it “also provides funding to support the reopening of stations at Wellington and Cullompton.”
The official added that “further details will be set out shortly.”
Mr Amos and Liberal Democrat MP, Richard Foord – whose constituency covers Cullompton – had been heading up calls for the stations to be given the green light.
The project had been thrown into doubt after the government scrapped the ‘Restoring Your Railway’ programme last summer.
Mr Amos wrote to the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, and the Secretary of State for Transport, Heidi Alexander, on Friday.
He said the Treasury statement “leaves a lot of key information to be clarified.
“In particular, it would not be sensible, from the Government’s own point of view, to provide only a proportion of the funds required for the project.
“Only partial funding, given the £5million of matching funding already contributed, would take away the key benefit of both stations being built and operational within two years, given that detailed design work is all but completed.
“For the sake of people’s jobs, businesses, livelihoods and educational chances in the Southwest, this opportunity for the region to see some of the £180 million growth benefits of this project within the next two years must not be missed.”
Mr Amos is now working with other Southwest MPs and officials to arrange a meeting for the relevant Minister to provide further details.