Plans discussed to reopen Pontrilas station

More details have emerged on plans to reopen a rural Herefordshire railway station.

Taking forward the long-mooted plan for Pontrilas station, to be renamed Golden Valley Parkway, is part of Herefordshire Council’s plan for the year ahead.

In a response to public questions on this, cabinet member transport and infrastructure Coun Phillip Price and director of economy and environment Ross Cook said the council will spend £50,000 developing a “strategic outline business case” for the new station in partnership with rail industry figures.

“We are currently developing a project brief for this work and, once the individual members of the task force are confirmed, we expect consultants to be appointed and the study to start,” they said.

And they added: “In recognition of the wider benefits to the community of a new station, the scheme will be known as the Golden Valley Parkway.”

But they pointed out that the plans are still “at a very early stage” and with new station plans typically taking several years, it is currently “not possible to commit to a timescale for station opening”.

Coun Price had previously said he thought the idea “offered poor value for money” and would “not create additional capacity”.

But it has the backing of the area’s erstwhile Conservative MP and former transport minister Jesse Norman.

The station closed in 1958, but the line remains in use, while the station building has been converted into a bed & breakfast and self-catering cottage.

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