A new train station in a village in South Gloucestershire which was expected to open at the end of last year will now open in three years’ time. Charfield train station, which had planning permission granted in March 2023, lies on the Bristol to Gloucester railway line.
The village has been left without a train station for 60 years when the old station shut as a result of the Beeching cuts. For three decades, plans for a new station were discussed, before planning permission was granted in 2023.
The £22 million station will be built on land just off Station Road in the centre of the village. It will be formed of two platforms with a pedestrian footbridge, a bus stop, covered cycle parking and car parking.
Building work has yet to commence on the development, which had hoped to open by the end of 2024. Instead, a planning application was submitted by South Gloucestershire Council and Network Rail in July 2024 which introduced a ‘Parts Plan’ in order to help discharge various conditions.
The applicants said that it would allow for phasing of the development in order to allow for a “timely opening of the railway station” in spring 2027. This application was given approval in September 2024. As part of the application, various conditions were given minor adaptations.
A number of conditions have since been discharged, the most recent being on December 30, meaning that nine conditions have been fully discharged. There remains several further conditions which affects the beginning date of the development and more conditions affecting the process of the development and the opening of the train station.
Within the design and access statement, submitted in September 2022, it described the need for a train station in Charfield: “In the local area of Charfield and neighbouring settlements there are limited public transport alternatives, which has led to high car dependency for travel to major employment hubs within the north fringe of Bristol, Bristol City Centre and Gloucester. There are 14,500 residents within a 5km radius of the application site, living in Charfield, neighbouring market town of Wotton-Under-Edge and a number of surrounding settlements.
“There are infrequent bus services and long journey times between Charfield, Gloucester and Bristol with only 1% of residents currently commuting to work by public transport. The construction of a railway station at Charfield will provide an attractive alternative to car-based trips for a range of journey purposes, enhancing accessibility to jobs, further and higher education sites located near Bristol Parkway and Filton Abbey Wood and Bristol Temple Meads, and centres of culture, tourism, leisure, and retail including Bristol, Bath, Weston-super-Mare and Gloucester.”
The station would provide train journeys for residents to Bristol Parkway (in 18 minutes), Bristol Temple Meads (in 32 minutes) and Gloucester (in 22 minutes) every hour. It is expected that when construction takes place, it will last for between 12 and 18 months.
The station also forms part of the MetroWest planned network, which has seen developments continue to reopen the Portishead line. Charfield station falls within the second phase of the MetroWest network which will see the Henbury line reopened with three new stations to be built (one of which, Ashley Down, already being open), and the Yate and Gloucester line to have a half-hourly train service between Temple Meads and Gloucester via Yate.
Enabling works on the site are expected to begin this month according to South Gloucestershire Council’s website. Construction is planned to run from 2025 until the 2027 opening.