In May 2019 GCC declared a climate emergency and committed to
‘Ensure that the council’s major plans, such as the
local transport plan, have clearly identified strategies to reduce
carbon emissions’. Many people would travel more sustainably
if the option were there but, unbelievably, there is no direct
public transport link between the Stroud valleys and Bristol.
The line from the South West and Bristol to Gloucester and
Birmingham passes through Stonehouse and the site of the former
Bristol Road station (closed during the Beeching cuts) is available
for redevelopment.
Re-opening this site as Stroudwater Station is an affordable,
sustainable and deliverable project to link a catchment area of
55,000 people with their regional capital for work, education and
leisure.
Stonehouse Town Council and Railfuture submitted a bid to the
Department for Transport’s Restoring Your Railway Fund; the
proposal was assessed as having potential and we were advised to
apply to the New Stations Fund. To make further progress with the
bid requires support from Gloucestershire County Council.
Hence we call on the Council to support this proposal that will
open up economic opportunities as well as taking action on the
climate emergency and give its full support to the reopening of
Stroudwater Station.
This ePetition ran from 11/08/2020 to 31/07/2021 and has now finished.
1352 people signed this ePetition.
Thank you for your recent ePetition. Simon Excell, Lead Commissioner - Strategic Infrastructure, has provided the following response:
‘The recently adopted Gloucestershire Local Transport Plan
2020 – 2041, Policy LTP PD5.1 Rail Infrastructure
Improvements, retains a commitment to look at the most suitable
location for a new station south of Gloucester. Given the limited
capacity on the line between Gloucester and Bristol it’s
important to establish the location that best meets the long term
strategic growth requirements over the next 30 years in as
sustainable a way as possible. Until it is clearer where the future
growth in the county is likely to occur and we have the results
from the necessary strategic studies, including the currently being
developed multi-modal model to establish where the most effective
and sustainable station option is best placed, it is difficult for
the County Council to support any one single option without the
required evidence.’