Disabled access at Highbridge Railway Station has become a by-election issue in Highbridge this week with less than a fortnight until residents go to the polls.
The Conservatives’ candidate Terry Dommett – who is standing against Liberal Democrat Victoria Weavell in the council by-election in Highbridge on November 12th – this week held talks with MP James Heappey over the rail station.
He invited Mr Heappey to hear concerns about disabled access onto the Taunton-bound platform.
“I’ve been speaking to a lot of people locally about transport links in the town and disabled access at the station kept coming up,” said Mr Dommett.
“People rightly point out that from the car park the only non-step access to the Taunton bound side of the station is by leaving the car park, going over the road bridge, walking beyond the station and then coming back in through the new housing development on that side.”
“I know that James Heappey has been speaking to Network Rail and Great Western Railway about improving the train services to the town and I wanted to make sure that this was included in those discussions.”
After the visit, Mr Heappey told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “Terry is absolutely right to bring this to my attention. I have mentioned it to Network Rail previously and will now chase them on Terry’s behalf.”
“I would imagine that this is a relatively inexpensive improvement to make and yet it is long overdue – equality of access is not a ‘nice-to-have’ it is a right and those who need step-free access to the station have every right to be angry.”
