The Liberal Democrat administration of B&NES Council has instructed officers to put Saltford Station into the Council’s Forward Plan. This first step will lead to the Council being the “Promoter” of the project.
The site as it is today.
Funding will be identified to get the project to Network Rail’s ‘GRIP 4’ stage of development at which time funding for the construction of the Station will need to be identified.
Funding could come from a number of different sources. Construction could be funded by Network Rail, by the rail franchise operating company, by the Council, or through Department for Transport funds. The administration aims to get to this stage as soon as possible.
Councillor Roger Symonds (Liberal Democrat, Combe Down), Cabinet Member for Transport said: “By becoming the “Promoter” of this project our administration has signalled to Saltford residents that it is serious about getting the station built. The B&NES Conservative Group has done nothing to assist the Saltford Station Campaign and seems as usual to be trying to jump on the band wagon. I question why they now wish to get involved through criticising the Lib Dems when they had 4 years to help get the Station opened and did nothing. They were more interested in building a bus road into Bath, which most people didn’t want. I am not aware of any submission from them to the Department for Transport’s GWR Franchise consultation requesting that Saltford Station be re-opened.
“Their scare-mongering tactic of saying that the Lib Dems Administration is ‘raising false hopes’ is inaccurate and not recognised by the Saltford Station Campaign. My response to this is to quote Barack Obama’s 2008 ‘Yes we can’ speech, when he addressed a similar accusation by saying ‘there is nothing false about hope’. We are making every effort to get the Station opened.“
Duncan Hounsell, Saltford Parish Councillor and a leading Campaigner for the Re-open Saltford Station Campaign said: “We are confident that the Lib Dems are committed to the re-opening of Saltford Station. The Campaign Group has received considerable support, encouragement and practical advice from the outset from Cllr Roger Symonds, Cabinet Member for Transport. Roger refused to support the West of England submission to the Department for Transport about the new Great Western Franchise unless Saltford Station re-opening was included. We are also impressed by the wholehearted support of our MP, Jacob Rees-Mogg.“
