A huge step has been taken towards opening a railway line between Portishead and Bristol after the government committed £15.5m to finish the project. The transport scheme, which would see passenger trains running between Bristol and the North Somerset town for the first time since 1964, has been hit with delays.
North Somerset Council says this has caused costs to rise unexpectedly to £152m which has created a £35.5m funding shortfall, but the Department of Transport has now committed extra money to close this gap. The council is also providing £10m, and the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) is due to meet today (July 29) to reach an agreement on contributing a further £10m.
Councillor Steve Bridger, leader of North Somerset Council and executive member for major projects, said: “This is more good news for Portishead, Pill and the region. As part of MetroWest Phase 1b, Portishead rail is one of our key schemes with the potential to transform the area through greener travel, access to jobs and sustainable economic growth.
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“I am thrilled that our commitment and determination is paying dividends and has brought the rail line a step closer to becoming a reality for our residents. I’d like to thank our officers, my councillor colleagues, our West of England Combined Authority partners, the Department for Transport, Liam Fox MP and the rail minister for their continued efforts in pushing this much-anticipated scheme forward.”
The railway line is not expected to re-open until December 2024, although local authorities have been planning the project since 2011. The council has blamed the delays on "approval of the scheme’s Development Consent Order (DCO) and unprecedented global increases to the cost of energy, labour and construction materials."
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.
The extra funding means that the project should go ahead. However, the money will only be secured once the Department for Transport approves the scheme’s full business case and the DCO, as well as the £10m in funding from both North Somerset Council and the West of England Combined Authority.
It will see the Portishead passenger station reopen for the first time since 1964, 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 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".
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