£100,000 council cash puts Saltford station bid back on track
People living in Saltford could soon have their railway station reopened after securing £100,000 from Bath and North East Somerset Council.
A campaign group has been pushing for the move for more than a year and they have now won the support of the local authority.
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Saltford station campaigners hand in a petition
At a cabinet meeting in Bath last night, councillors agreed to allocate the funding to start the first stages of development.
Councillor Roger Symonds, the cabinet member responsible for transport, said he wholeheartedly welcomed the plans and wanted to offer his full support.
He said: “I’m delighted with this proposal, I’m delighted that we have this great community group that have done all this work in Saltford.
“If anybody believes that this is not going to be of benefit to the whole of the Saltford community, their reasoning is wrong.”
The station closed in 1970, but the Saltford Station Campaign Group believes if it was reopened it would be well used by the local community.
They have already managed to collect more than 2,000 signatures on a petition which they presented to the cabinet at the Guildhall last night.
Duncan Hounsell, from the campaign group, spoke at the meeting and thanked councillors for their support.
Speaking afterwards, he said: “It is brilliant, I think this is a historic day for the station.
“It is a hot topic in the village at the moment, it is something everybody is aware of and there is great enthusiasm for it.”
It is estimated that the scheme will cost a total of £5.5 million, which the campaign group hopes will come from a variety of sources, including Network Rail, a train operator or the West of England Partnership.
