Somerset Council has blocked an attempt by bus campaigners to alter a new route to Castle Cary railway station.

Glastonbury TrainLink has been pushing for a regular bus service between Glastonbury and Castle Cary railway station, running via Pilton and Shepton Mallet.

The aim is to make it easier for people in rural communities to connect with trains, including services to London Paddington.

But the council says the new service needs to run via Street and Clarks Village to attract enough passengers and give the trial the best chance of success.

The council committed in early April that the service would begin "imminently", once it had checked that Great Western Railway timetables would line up with the planned bus times.

Glastonbury TrainLink later accused the council of "ignoring the evidence" it had collected.

The group said the council had altered the proposed route to include Clarks Village in Street, and to connect with the Slinky service in Somerton and Langport.

TrainLink member Susannah Clemence criticised the decision at the first meeting of Somerset Council's climate, environment and place scrutiny committee in Taunton on Thursday, 4 June.

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She said the group's proposals had been "widely endorsed by the community".

Ms Clemence said: "We have invested and accumulated considerable resources, both monetary and in professional standard research and marketing work, towards what Glastonbury, Pilton and other communities asked for.

"Namely, they want a bus that serves communities, workplaces and leisure destinations on the route from Glastonbury to Pilton, Cannard's Grave, Prestleigh, the Bath and West Showground, Castle Cary station, Ansford and Castle Cary town centre."

She said the group had compared the preferred route with an option via Street and Keinton Mandeville, which she said was rejected by respondents.

Ms Clemence said parish councils and businesses along the campaigners' preferred route had supported the vision.

She said just over £29,000 had been pledged to cover initial costs, with "considerable advertising and promotion" also promised.

She added: "We ask you to examine the basis for your decision, the criteria applied for 'value for money', evidence of any underpinning market research, and whether a better outcome can be achieved by including the Glastonbury TrainLink project, rather than scrapping it altogether."

Mike O'Dowd-Jones, Somerset Council's service director for infrastructure and transport, said the TrainLink proposals had been given "a great deal of consideration".

But he said they were not ultimately the most viable route.

He said: "We recognise the desire for a transport link to Glastonbury to Castle Cary railway station – and that's why we are providing this new service.

"It's important to stress that we need to provide the best value for the available funding we have, and therefore it's not possible to cover all the requested calling points."

Mr O'Dowd-Jones said the council's "primary concern" was that the campaigners' proposed route had "significant limitations" in terms of potential users.

He said the service needed to operate via Street to attract visitors to Clarks Village and Glastonbury.

The council also wants to widen the catchment area by providing a peak commuter journey to and from the Langport and Somerton area to Castle Cary railway station, using digital Slinky bus services.

Mr O'Dowd-Jones added: "We have listened to the request, and we've delivered what we believe is the best possible solution, while balancing the need to attract as many passengers as possible by widening the catchment area, and gaining support from both Clarks Village and GWR to help us promote the services."

Councillor Henry Hobhouse, Liberal Democrat councillor for Castle Cary and neighbouring villages, said he hoped Castle Cary station would continue to see passenger numbers rise.

He said: "The station is in my division. Over the last five years, the amount of people using the station has risen to 370,000 a year.

"I'm sorry to say it, but it drives me nuts every time the papers describe the station as the home of the 'Pilton pop festival' [Glastonbury Festival], because that makes up less than ten per cent of our total usage.

"We are getting a third car park – it is in negotiation at the moment – and hopefully our numbers will go on increasing. Five years ago, we didn't have any permanent station staff – we now have two."

Original reporting: Daniel Mumy/LDRS

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