Road and Rail Projects

Sarah Dyke Excerpts

Tuesday 8th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Heidi Alexander]

If my hon. Friend writes to me with further details of the access issues at the rear of York station, I will be happy to speak to the Rail Minister and relevant organisations to see whether there are improvements that we can make. I appreciate that we need accessible stations if everyone is to benefit.

[Sarah Dyke (Glastonbury and Somerton) (LD)]

Residents in Somerton and Langport are isolated from the railway line that runs right through the area. Some 50,000 residents could benefit from a new station, but hopes for that station took a massive hit when the Chancellor cancelled the restoring your railway fund. What steps will the Secretary of State take to introduce train links for communities such as Somerton and Langport? In the shorter term, will she commit to expanding integrated bus routes, so that my constituents can get to the nearest railway station?

[Heidi Alexander]

We will publish an integrated national transport strategy later this year to address precisely the sort of issues that the hon. Member raises about the criticality of bus links to stations in the absence of a new station. My predecessor and the Chancellor took the decision to cancel the restoring your railway programme because it was unaffordable in its entirety, but where schemes offer good value for money and really transformative benefits for the local economy—such as the Wellington and Cullompton schemes, and the Portishead scheme that we have announced today—I hope that we have shown that we are prepared to look at them and take them forward.