saltford's getting closer

A petition signed by more than 2,000 people calling for the reopening of Saltford railway station has been presented in Parliament.

North East Somerset MP Jacob Rees-Mogg handed over the petition in the House of Commons as a campaign gathers pace to get trains stopping once again at the halt which closed in 1970.

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   From left, Chris Warren, Jacob Rees-Mogg MP, Richard James and Duncan Hounsell

A team of more than 30 campaigners knocked on doors in the village to collect 2,028 signatures, which they estimate represents support from around two-thirds of households – with success at around 90 per cent of homes where someone was in.

Nearly 800 of the people signing up said they would use the station at least once a week, with 261 saying they would be daily users.

Mr Rees-Mogg met representatives of the Saltford Station Campaign Group at Westminster Hall to receive the petition and later formally handed it in during a session in the main chamber.

Group spokesman Duncan Hounsell said: “Jacob Rees-Mogg has given the campaign whole-hearted support from the outset. Handing in our petition to the House of Commons gives our campaign another boost.”

The station campaign is backed by B&NES Council, which has agreed to act as the official promoter of the reopening project, Bath Spa University and the West of England Partnership.

Mr Rees-Mogg said: “Reopening it makes a lot of sense. The A4 is a very heavily used road and if we can move more people from road to rail, that would have great benefits for the community.”

He said the speeding up of trains with the electrification of the line through the village meant it would be less disruptive to introduce more stopping services into timetables.

“In the 13 years from 1997 to 2010, just ten miles of line were electrified. There are now plans for 800 – that is a huge increase.”