Plymouth and Tavistock rail link push gathers pace

Borough councillors want funding for business case and line reinstated

The push for a rail link between Tavistock and Plymouth is gathering pace as the reality of hundreds of extra homes hits.

West Devon Borough Council is writing to ministers and local MPs to get the rail project back on the table after an initiative called Restoring Your Railways  was scrapped by the Labour government not long after it took power.

Previously approved investment to put together a business case and complete the project with  £150 million ringfenced from diverted HS2 funds is seen as vital to the economy and education, work opportunities, as well as meeting net zero targets.

Cllr Ric Cheadle (Ind, Buckland Monachorum) said the government’s plan to increase housebuilding across the country means that Plymouth and West Devon would have an “eye watering” amount of new homes over the next few years.

“If they want extra houses, they must be prepared for the infrastructure to support them,” he said.

And despite work on the edge of Plymouth to improve traffic flow on the A386, councillors claimed that the journey time from Yelverton to the Manadon roundabout is estimated to improve by just 40 seconds.

The rail link involves laying five miles of track between Tavistock and Bere Alston because the rest of the line is in place to Plymouth.

Council leader Mandy Ewings (Ind, Tavistock South West) said it was not the biggest project in the world.

Tavistock councillors are working with their Plymouth counterparts to push the benefits of the scheme and would like the rail extended to Ivybridge with a new station at Plympton to link outlying communities to the city.

Cllr Ewings said many children from Tavistock go to school at Devonport and college in Plymouth, adults travelled to work there, and it would be advantageous for everyone.

She said MPs were already supportive, but it would not harm to “knock on the door again to show them how serious we are”.

She said thousands of new homes are in the pipeline for Bickleigh and Woolwell with subsequent traffic pouring onto the A386.

Councillors supported a motion by Cllr Neil Jory (Con, Milton Ford) to make the case to the government and build on the success of the Dartmoor Line from Okehampton to Exeter reintroduced in November 2021.

Cllr Kevin Ball (Con, Okehampton North) said with the only line into the south west frequently affected by bad weather at Dawlish, they should be “waving and shouting” for the reinstatement of the whole northern route from Plymouth to Exeter via Tavistock and Okehampton.

“It’s important we have that as an aspiration,” he said.

In February 2014, two severe storms caused 100 metres of the seawall to collapse at Dawlish, cutting off the peninsula from the rest of the country’s national rail network for eight weeks.

The wall has since been improved to protect the railway from rising sea levels and extreme weather.

New rail projects throughout the country earmarked for funding under the Conservative government are to be reviewed this month.

Cllr Jory said it is vital that the funding is reinstated “to allow us to get to the business case and beyond.”

Campaign group TaviRail recently said it needs  £1.5 million to complete the business case and it would take several years to sort paperwork, by which time the nation’s finances might be in a better place.

Cllr Jory’s full motion was as follows:

“The council notes the intention of the government to suspend previously investment in regenerating rail infrastructure and the effect that may have on plans to consider the business case to reinstate the Tavistock to Plymouth rail line.

“The council also notes that this decision is to be reviewed on a case by case basis during October and resolves to write to the Rt. Hon Louise Haigh, secretary of state, to the three members of parliament whose constituencies cover the borough area and the two members of parliament in Plymouth to set out the case for investment in this project including:

The wish to build on the success of the recently connected Dartmoor Line;

The benefits to the environment in general, and the A386 in particular, from encouraging commuters and other travellers onto rail travel;

The benefits to the economy of West Devon and, in particular, Tavistock and Plymouth including improved opportunities for education and work; and

The aspirational benefits afforded to the residents of West Plymouth and East Cornwall from an improved rail service and the opportunities that provides for the regeneration of that area.”