AN extra platform could be introduced at Westbury Railway Station, after being shortlisted for government funding.
Around £16.9million of government funding will be available for Wiltshire Council to spend on transport schemes. And the council has identified Westbury Station as one of 10 potential major projects for Wiltshire, which will be considered alongside another 10 from Swindon Borough Council.
The list will then be forwarded to the Department for Transport, with an anticipated three or four schemes to be identified. These could then be part of a four-year programme of works due to begin in 2015.
70 schemes were considered by Wiltshire Council’s cabinet, which were then prioritised and shortlisted against a set of criteria with Westbury station making it into the Top Ten.
David Jenkins, Wiltshire councillor for Westbury North and a member of Westbury Train Watch said, “I’m pleased that they are actually looking at the station – at least we’ve got something for Westbury on the list. I’ve very encouraged by that.
“The additional platform gives more scope to adapt for future developments and so it is good news.”
Westbury Railway Station previously had four platforms, but one platform was closed a number of years ago.
Other proposed schemes on the list include a Yarnbrook relief road, and West Ashton Relief Road.
The DfT published ‘Devolving local major transport schemes: Next steps’ in September 2012. A key feature was to devolve major transport scheme funding to Local Transport Bodies made up of representatives of local councils, the Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP) and advisory posts from the Highways Agency and Network Rail.
Approximately £16.9m of government funding will be available for the chosen schemes in Wiltshire, although the final amount could be 30 percent more or less than this. There will also be an additional amount of developer funding and contributions from other key partners such as the Highways Agency and Network Rail.
Fleur de Rhe-Philipe, cabinet member for transport said, “This is all about local decisions being made locally and this is the next stage in a process that we hope will make key improvements to our county in the coming years.”
