Plans for new railway station hit the buffers

Gavin McEwan, local democracy reporter

Plans to recreate a railway station at Pontrilas on the Hereford-Abergavenny line have hit a further setback.

A “Golden Valley Parkway task force” was quietly set up late last year to co-ordinate progress on the proposal between councils and rail operators on either side of the border.

But now a monitoring report on progress towards 179 council “milestones” has flagged as “red” its goal of completing a strategic outline business case for the station proposal.

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Network Rail

“Delays in engagement with Network Rail has meant that the brief for procuring a professional services provider to undertake business case has not yet been agreed by the task force,” the report explains.

The plan has been talked about for years and is supported by local Conservative MP Jesse Norman, a former transport minister.

The council said last June it planned to spend £50,000 developing a business case for the new station in partnership with rail industry figures – but cautioned at the time it was “not possible to commit to a timescale for station opening”.

The incoming Labour government then cancelled the Restoring Your Railways fund, which had been seen as the most promising source of funding to getting the scheme off the ground.

The council’s monitoring report says it has delivered, or is likely to deliver, 140 out of the 179 milestones by the beginning of April.

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