The drive for a new metro style metro style station in Wellington continues. This week Rebecca Pow MP presented a petition to Parliament urging the Government to support calls for a new railway station. The petition was supported by many local residents and will now be given to the Department of Transport for answer. The petition was launched at a very well supported local meeting, attended by over 200 members of the community, where an overwhelming majority joined with Rebecca in calling for a new station to be seriously considered for the area. Many thought that the rapidly expanding town could benefit hugely from new rail links to Taunton, Tiverton Parkway, Collompton and Exeter. Wellington is thought to be the second largest town of its kind on a main line railway without a railway station, so the business case for the station is incredibly strong and with congestion around town at an all-time high, alleviating this and improving air quality should now be a priority. The wording of the petition also calls upon the Government to support the feasibility study now needed to push ahead with the proposals. Taunton Deane Borough Council have already committed £40,000 to this and Rebecca is now pressing the other local authorities involved (Somerset County Council, Devon county Council, Exeter Council and Mid Devon Council) to allow for this next stage of development to commence. Rebecca said: ‘I am delighted that this petition was so well supported by the local community. I fully believe that the Government has an appetite for building viable new stations as illustrated by the highly successful New Stations Fund that has so far released two rounds of £20million to help develop transport links in hard to reach areas. This week I am bringing a delegation of local stakeholders to meet the Rail Minister Claire Perry to discuss how we can really push this project forward for the benefit of the local community. Wellington is a thriving local hub and increased connectivity would only help move the town forward as well as being part of a wider push to get people out of their cars and onto public transport.’