Following the recent confirmation that a bid for funding had been unsuccessful, a petition has been launched stating how important the reopening of the railway line is for the local economy.
Over 900 people have signed the petition since it was launched just over a week ago.
The petition can be found by clicking here.
The text of the petition is as follows
Fully Fund the Portishead to Bristol MetroWest Rail Line: #PortisheadBackOnTrack!
After decades of campaigning plans for re-opening the Portishead Railway were developed by TravelWest into the MetroWest Phase One bid for construction funding.
This critical bid was rejected by the Minster of Transport Chris Grayling on 17th May 2018. Grayling failed to deliver on his promise to open the project “sooner rather than later” and the 2017 Conservative Manifesto’s promise to “launch new services to places which are poorly served or host major new housing projects”.
Portishead is the fastest growing town in Europe and 74.5% of its residents currently commute to work via car. This means that Portishead is becoming more and more congested, facing daily gridlock – no wonder its local MP, Dr Liam Fox once called it “the biggest cul-de-sac in Britain”.
We are calling on the Government to fully fund MetroWest Phase One as we believe a rail link to Portishead is vital for cutting congestion and making it easier for our residents to get into Bristol and around the country by rail!Put #PortisheadBackOnTrack.