An extra £35.5m is needed to finish the Portishead railway line project, according to North Somerset Council. The railway line, which will connect Portishead to Bristol, is not expected to re-open until 2024.
The project has been hit with delays, and the council says that because of this, the cost of the scheme has risen unexpectedly to £152m. Council leader Steve Bridger says the council and the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) are seeking to commit an extra £10m each to the project, and are asking the Department for Transport to close the remaining £15.5m funding gap.
According to the council, the problems have been caused by "delays to approval of the scheme’s Development Consent Order (DCO) and unprecedented global increases to the cost of energy, labour and construction materials."
Read more: Portishead rail line's future uncertain as questions raised over funding and inflation
The DCO is the permission needed to complete the project, and includes planning consent, environmental consent and the compulsory acquisition of land. It is required before all nationally significant infrastructure projects can be built.
Cllr Bridger said: “Portishead rail remains one of our key schemes with the potential to transform the area by getting cars off the road, providing access to jobs and contributing to sustainable economic growth. Despite the frustrating recent delays beyond our control, we remain committed to working together with our partners and to lobbying Government to help address any funding shortfall.
"That is why we are looking to pledge an additional £10m of investment into the scheme, boosting connectivity and cutting journey times so that more North Somerset residents can seize the opportunities in our growing region. We will continue to work hard to push and progress the scheme, so that the residents of Portishead can finally see the line become a reality.”
Portishead's passenger station closed in 1964 and was due to reopen in December 2024 as part of a major MetroWest project which will also include a new train station at Pill, and train services upgraded on the Severn Beach line and between Bath Spa and Bristol Temple Meads.
The council's decision to commit the additional £10m in funding to the scheme will be taken at a full council meeting in July. The additional funding will be subject to DfT approval of the scheme’s full business case and confirmation of both WECA and the DfT’s funding commitments.
WECA leader Dan Norris said last week that the government was considering setting aside some additional money for the project. “The government is contemplating giving additional funding to get us over the line, but they’re requiring some money from North Somerset and the combined authority as well. I’m not actually certain that I’ve got that money, but I’m very keen to find what I can," he said.
The Government has previously been accused by North Somerset Council of driving up the cost of the new railway line by delaying its decision to back it. In April, transport minister Robert Courts MP announced for the second time that the deadline for the Government making the decision was being delayed.
The announcement meant the project might not get the go-ahead until February 2023 - a full 19 months after the regional transport authority MetroWest first applied to the Government to be able to do the project. At the time, the minister said that this was to allow the council "to demonstrate that funding for the entire scheme has been secured".
This article was updated to note that an extra £35.5m is needed to finish the railway line - not £25.5m as the article originally stated
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