Two Somerset MPs have pleaded with the government to push forward with new railway stations to "secure the economic growth that Somerset needs".

Somerset suffered heavily during the Beeching cuts of the mid-1960s, with numerous towns and villages seeing their stations closed and entire lines being ripped up forever.

Plans to restore rail services to Wellington and two towns on the Somerset Levels have moved forward in recent times – with a local housing developer gaining approval in May to deliver the access to a new Wellington station as part of a new estate of 200 homes.

Chancellor of the exchequer Rachel Reeves MP threw a spanner in the works in late-July, cancelling the restoring your railway fund and instituting a review of major transport projects across the UK – which has seen the A303 Stonehenge tunnel and the dualling of the A358 between Taunton and Ilminster both cancelled.

Gideon Amos MP and Sarah Dyke MP used a recent parliamentary debate to hold the government's feet to the fire, urging the Department for Transport (DfT) to urgently deliver the new stations to enable economic growth.

The DfT has declined to make a public commitment to either proposal, with further clarity being expected in the spring as the government's multi-year spending review takes shape.

Mr Amos (who represents the Taunton and Wellington constituency) raised the issue in the House of Commons on Thursday (December 5), as part of a wider debate on public transport organised by Ms Dyke (who represents Glastonbury and Somerton).

He said: "Because the Wellington and Cullompton stations project… would deliver two stations in one, it has the best benefit-cost ratio of any railway station reopening project in the country.

"On that ground alone, the project should qualify for funding, and it would bring £3.3m of benefit to the local economy.

"After all, growth is vital to the whole country, and reopening Wellington station would unlock thousands of homes around Wellington. We have a town council that wants Wellington to thrive and grow.

"The project to bring that railway station was very close to getting shovels in the ground. In July, the project had reached its final business case.

"The detailed design was ongoing, there was just a small amount of money needed to complete it – and then the government froze the whole programme. However, I was assured by the chancellor of the exchequer in the budget debate that the station would go ahead.

"We are still waiting to hear why the most financially beneficial station reopening project in the country has not yet got the go-ahead."

Mr Amos said that he had two "supportive and sympathetic" meetings with rail minister Lord Peter Hendy, but urged the Department for Transport (DfT) to formally commit to seeing these new stations delivered.

He added: "Wellington station is so ready to be built. We have a lot of third-party funding coming in; the access road and the car park are funded by a third-party developer.

"Cullompton, in the neighbouring constituency, is putting in similar third-party funding. We urgently need that project to go ahead.

"We wish to secure the economic growth that Somerset needs, but we have lost £2bn worth of transport projects over the past few months.

"The A303 and the A358 dualling have been cancelled. We desperately need a bypass for the villages of Thornfalcon and Henlade, which that A358 project would have completed.

"Will the minister undertake to inform the secretary of state of the need to release funding for the most important restoring your railway projects?"

Proposals to restore rail services to the Langport and Somerton area are at an earlier stage, with the Langport Transport Group submitting its strategic outline business case to the DfT in February 2022 – and having not heard anything since.

Ms Dyke, who has taken up their cause, said: "The Somerton and Langport area has the longest stretch of rail between London and Cornwall that is not served by a railway station.

"Now that the restoring your railway scheme has been cancelled by the chancellor, local residents feel that they are in limbo.

"Having a railway station in the Somerton and Langport area makes so much sense. It would serve the 50,000 people who live nearby who currently are not served by the railway line that runs right through their community.

"My constituents desperately want a train station to connect them to the railway, and they need information about that as soon as possible.

"The lack of correspondence across successive governments is very disappointing.

"If a train station is still some time away, although I hope it is not, then the need to improve bus services and integrate them with the railway is vital."

Ms Dyke noted that the county's existing railway station has seen a sharp rise in passengers in recent years, even with the ongoing impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

For example, Castle Cary railway station – the closest to the Glastonbury Festival site – saw its annual patronage rise from around 152,000 passengers in 2002/03 to around 251,000 passengers in 2017/18, according to the Office for Rail and Road.

Simon Lightwood MP, parliamentary under-secretary for transport, declined to give a specific commitment to either project, but said the new transport secretary Heidi Alexander MP had been made aware of how important both projects were to their respective communities.

He said: "I am sure the secretary of state will have heard the message, as will the rail minister."