500 people have now signed the petition calling on DfT to fund the Portishead Railway Line! Thank you for showing your support. Alan Matthews, Chair of Portishead Railway Group gave the following useful update: On Thursday it was announced that MetroWest (i.e. all four local councils) has failed in its bid for funding from the Large Local Major Transport Schemes fund. The DfT’s Large Local Major Transport Schemes fund guidance explicitly states “....There is a presumption against funding rail schemes ....".  So it was a long shot, but NSC/MetroWest felt it was worth trying. In fact all the fund went to 3 major road schemes, none to any rail schemes. The decision was not against Portishead Rail as such but was a choice between Road and rail. This doesn’t mean the project is dead, just that particular source of funds is not available - as the fund’s guidance said. One of the reasons for that rule is that there are other sources of funds available for rail schemes, which NSC/MetroWest will have to utilise instead. £116 million is the Network Rail revised cost for the Portishead line from last year (down from £170 million). This is a robust figure that has been independently verified by MetroWest to ensure no more nasty surprises. £58 million is already in place to meet the original Network Rail project costing. Of this £4.3 million is local money and £53.4 million was awarded from the Local Growth Fund. £12 million more was committed to the project last December by WECA (West of England Combined Authority) and North Somerset Council (50% each), as part of the latest funding bid that just failed. These are big commitments by all four councils (not all of which are Tory by the way ....) but still leave £46 million to be sourced. About £11 million has already been spent, getting the project this far. It wasn't politicians that doubled the cost of the project, triggering the search for more funds, it was Network Rail. The Metro Mayor is nothing to do with what’s happened. All four councils continue to work together as MetroWest. Work is continuing right now on the Development Consent Order (DCO) and GRIP 4, despite the latest news. The report on the DCO consultation at the end of 2017 will be published early next month. This setback is hugely frustrating for everyone, including those who work on the MetroWest project, but it’s not the first time and the project carries on. 

Today, there is a firm budget, £70 million of funding in place, a clear train service objective to deliver and a robust plan in place to deliver it. It just lacks £46 million. 

 Below is a copy of a press release by Dr Liam Fox MP: “I am in regular contact with the Secretary of State for Transport and spoke to him again today (18th May 2018).  He considers Portishead Railway to be an important part of the Metro West development and the Department of Transport are looking at a number of options to make it a reality as soon as possible.”