MP James Heappey has stepped up his calls for improvements to Burnham and Highbridge Railway Station during a debate in the House of Commons.
The town’s MP has said during a transport debate in Parliament that “the station is in a quiet backwater of Somerset and is too easily forgotten.”
He added: “It is on the no-man’s-land bit of line between Taunton and Bristol, which may or may not be electrified.”
“Improving that station presents a real opportunity, given the frustrations that so many people in my part of Somerset have in accessing Bristol.”
“More parking could be delivered. There is no disabled access whatsoever on the Taunton-bound platform when coming across from the car park, other than by going out on the road and over a bridge with no traffic lights or anything.”
He went on to say that improvement would benefit many users of the station.
“The opportunity that sits there just waiting to be harnessed, which would require a relatively small amount of money, is too often overlooked.”
“The Government have committed a welcome amount of investment to the south-west. We now need to deliver on what has been committed. The Government made some exciting promises on rail in the south-west in their long-term economic plan.”
“We now need to deliver. Although we recognise that the public purse is stretched, the Government need to come good on the things they said in the west country during the election campaign and make it clear that the south-west is a priority for them. We believe that the Government’s majority was made in the south-west.”
And he added: “Our region has poor infrastructure. The road improvements that the Government have promised are very welcome. The broadband improvements that the Government have promised are very welcome. The rail improvements that the Government have promised are absolutely vital. I hope that the Minister will agree that it should be a priority to deliver them in the south-west, and that if money does not allow for things to be done at the same time, the south-west will get priority over other regions so that we can catch up with everybody else.”
