BUSINESSES have backed plans for a new train station in Wellington.

People could be able to catch a train to Taunton or Exeter as soon as 2018 if a vision for a new station becomes a reality.

Talks between rail bosses and council leaders are on-going with progress expected to be made within the next few weeks – and several firms are already warming to the idea of having a train station again.

Martin Reader, headmaster at Wellington School, believes students would benefit greatly from the rail links.

He said: “I think a station would continue to put Wellington on the map and so attract businesses to the town, retail parks and office parks.

“If we can become more of a hub like Blackbrook in Taunton and attract solicitors, accountants and high-valued professions to the town, I think that would bring people here and benefit us.

“It would also make life a lot easier for boarders too. At the moment we send taxis to Taunton and to airports at Heathrow and Bristol.

“If we can get more on the train then everyone would benefit.”

Ben Fox, of The Big House Co in Tonedale, has family links with the railway, as his ancestor Dr Wilson Fox used to be a ‘physician extraordinaire’ to Queen Victoria.

As such, he had the right to stop the train at the bottom of his garden, which faced onto the tracks.

Ben said: “For us it is a no brainer. It would be very beneficial for us and our clients who travel from afar, to save them having to get taxis from Taunton.

“I think if you ask 100 people if Wellington needs a train station only a few would say no, and they are likely to be the ones who would be living on its doorstep.”

Alan Chapman, finance director of Relyon and Pritex, added: “We support any scheme that would assist the commuting of our workers to Wellington.”

As reported in the County Gazette, a Metro rail service and a self-sufficient station are part of the plans.

Deputy leader of Taunton Deane Council Mark Edwards, who has been steaming ahead with the proposals, said: “It is extremely encouraging that the idea to get a new railway station in Wellington has received such overwhelming support from so many individuals.

“Also, critically it has been supported by businesses all of which are the commercial lifeblood of the town.

“I am greatly encouraged by the discussions I have had and after the success that Taunton Deane Council has achieved in gaining the funding from the LEP for Taunton Railway Station I am more optimistic than ever that this vision of a new station at Wellington is deliverable.”