Henbury Loop ‘kicked into long grass’

Hopes to reopen the long-awaited Henbury Loop passenger rail line have been dealt a major blow.

Details of a new line and stations to Henbury have been put forward in the preliminary business case for Phase 2 of MetroWest.

But the line will not connect with the existing Severn Beach line, while a station in Lockleaze has also been deemed nonviable.

Charlotte Leslie called the “lunatic decision” not to connect the lines a “diabolically missed opportunity of a generation”.

Transport campaigners said the loop had been “kicked into the long grass” without consideration for future passengers.

The preliminary business case favours a “Henbury spur”, where trains will turn back towards Temple Meads instead of continuing on.

The report supports new or reopened passenger stations at Henbury, North Filton and Ashley Down, but omits a station at Constable Road, Lockleaze.

The loop and the Lockleaze station were excluded to fit the Government’s £43 million budget for the project, said West of England councils.

But campaigner David Redgewell, from the South West Transport Network, said the report was flawed as it had “not taken into account the huge business developments in Severnside”.

He said the loop could have provided transport to future employees of planned developments in Pilning, Avonmouth, Severn Beach and Hallen.

Freinds of Suburban Bristol Rail added that the omission of a loop connection was “frankly ridiculous” given the proposed development in the area.

Leslie, Conservative MP for Bristol North West and long-time Henbury Loop campaigner, said 5,000 new homes on Filton Airfield without a comprehensive rail link to jobs would cause gridlock on the roads.

She added: “In the year of Bristol’s Green Capital, this lunatic decision raises the most serious questions over the competence and interests of Bristol’s top decision makers and I will not let this rest until common sense and public interest triumph.”

Phase 1 of MetroWest, which includes reopening the passenger line to Portishead with a new station in Pill by 2019, is currently under consultation ahead of a planning application.

If Phase 2 is agreed there will be a total of five new or reopened stations by 2021, including Henbury, North Filton and Ashley Down, at a total cost of £100 million.

“Three years ago this seemed impossible – now, by planning our transport investment across different modes and across the whole area, rather than individually – we are starting to make a real difference,” said Brian Allinson, chairman of the West of England Joint Transport Board.

He said budget constraints meant councils could go ahead with the business case “or do nothing”, before adding that a Henbury Loop connection and a station in Lockleaze should not be ruled out for the future.

The last new rail station to open in the West of England area was Filton Abbeywood in 1996.