Highbridge Railway Station has this week been given a £7,300 funding boost towards ongoing work to introduce improved signage at the station.
The Great Western Railway Community Grant Scheme has awarded the funding to a working group overseeing the package of improvements to make it more accessible and encourage more use.
A spokesperson told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “The Town Council, GWR, Somerset Council, Sir Ashley Fox MP and Our Highbridge CIC have been working together to improve accessibility at Highbridge Station.”
“We are pleased to have been granted £7,300 from the GWR Community Grant towards the work to create improved signage at the station.”
“Somerset Council is committed to looking for ways to allocate match funding. This will enable the work to be completed this year.”
“The working group will be working in partnership to look at level access issues at the station and how these might be addressed over the long term.”
Town councillor Sharon Perry says: “Accessibility at Highbridge station has long been a serious concern for Town Councillors and was raised at a Town Council meeting in August 2023. Cllr Millard and other councillors have worked extremely hard to bring together interested stakeholders to identify solutions to the difficulties faced by some users of the station.”
“This is a significant step forward to improving signage and wayfinding to Highbridge station. We are grateful to Our Highbridge for securing this grant and we look forward to seeing improvements at the station in the next couple of months. The working group will not stop there! Attention will then turn to improving the pathways around and to the station. This has been a great achievement and shows the benefit of working together.”
Burnham-On-Sea and Highbridge MP Ashley Fox added: “Highbridge has a fantastic railway station available for use by local residents. What we all want is for the station to be accessible to all and used as frequently as possible.”
“I want to thank all of those groups and individuals who are working so hard on this topic. Both I and my office will be fully supporting efforts to improve rail services and facilities in Highbridge.”
Pictured: Residents with representatives from the Town Council, Somerset Council, Sir Ashley Fox MP and Our Highbridge CIC with GWR’s Nicholas Reid at Burnham and Highbridge Railway Station on Monday April 28th