A growing community in North Somerset is calling for the reopening of its railway station after more than eight decades without train service. Long Ashton villagers and their MP, Dr. Sadik Al-Hassan, are pushing for a new station to prevent the village from being “left behind” amid expanding transport developments in the area.
Last week, Dr. Al-Hassan presented a petition signed by over 250 local residents to the House of Commons, highlighting the urgent need for rail access in Long Ashton. “The absence of rail is a glaring gap that holds back residents and forces more people into cars,” he stated.
New stations are already being constructed in nearby Pill and Portishead as part of a major project to revive the old railway line connecting North Somerset to Bristol. Unlike those locations, reestablishing a station in Long Ashton would not require new railway tracks since the village sits on the existing Bristol-Exeter main line.
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“Long Ashton is expanding rapidly, but without a station, residents lack vital direct transport links to Bristol and beyond,” Al-Hassan added. “With the £1.25 billion healthcare technology campus under construction nearby, the need for a station has never been more pressing.”
The ambitious tech campus, a 90-acre site next to Long Ashton, will serve as the new European headquarters of the American healthcare company Epic. Expected to provide over 2,150 jobs and generate approximately £147 million annually in economic value, this development heightens transport demands on the village.
Locating a station presents engineering challenges, as the railway line passes through a cutting near the village. The original Long Ashton station, which closed in 1941, was situated slightly away from the village and is now buried beneath the Long Ashton bypass. The petition demands a government-commissioned feasibility study to assess options for a station reopening.
North Somerset has witnessed a surge in railway restoration efforts in recent years. After decades of advocacy, the Portishead Railway project commenced last November, aiming to link the town once again with Bristol. Additionally, reestablishing the miniature railway attraction at Salthouse Fields in Clevedon is underway. Meanwhile, proposals to reopen Uphill station near Weston-super-Mare have met with limited local support.
As Long Ashton’s population and industries grow, securing a railway station could play a crucial role in reducing car reliance, improving connectivity, and supporting economic development for the village and the wider region.