Charfield train station

Network Rail will be starting essential design survey work in preparation of the new station.

These surveys will include utility detection, topographical mapping, ground investigations, track condition assessments, structural inspections of culverts and stone arches, as well as lineside equipment evaluations. In some areas, vegetation will need to be cut back to provide access.

Network Rail will be working a mixture of day and night shifts as listed below, however please be aware these dates may change.

• Saturday 31 August to Sunday 1 September – single overnight shift from 10pm to 8am for track surveys.
• Monday 2 to Friday 6 September – 5 consecutive daytime shifts from 8am to 5pm for off-track surveys and vegetation clearance.
• Saturday 14 to Sunday 15 September – single overnight shift from 10pm to 8am for track surveys and vegetation clearance.
• Saturday 5 to Sunday 6 October – single overnight shift from 10pm to 8am for track surveys and vegetation clearance.
• Monday 7 to Friday 11 October – 4 consecutive overnight shifts from 10pm to 6am for track surveys.

Traffic management will be in place between the hours of 8am and 5pm from Monday 2 to Friday 6 September on Little Bristol Lane and Station Road. This will involve a two-way signalling system on Little Bristol Lane and stop and go boards on Station Road.

Some of the work being carried out will be noisy and Network Rail will be working to minimise disruption as much as possible.

If you have any questions, you can contact Network Rail by calling a dedicated 24-hour National Helpline on 03457 11 41 41 or by visiting Network Rail’s contact us page.

As part of our commitment to deliver the new station by spring 2027 we are working with the Department for Transport and the West England Combined Authority to establish if partial funding for the scheme can be released to start some station enabling works in early 2025.

Over the coming weeks we will be setting out the scope and cost of the enabling works to Department for Transport and Combined Authority. They will consider the proposal and make a decision on whether the works can proceed.

The main reason for the enabling works is to help maintain the current programme for delivery of the station and to make best use of an existing planned rail possession (or line closure) in May 2025 – which improves safety for workers, reduces the cost of the scheme and the impact for rail passengers. Being able to carry out these works sooner supports our aim of opening the new station by spring 2027.

We are still working to submit our full business case, and request for full funding, to Department for Transport and the Combined Authority at the end of the year. Given the station forms part of the national transport network, the Department for Transport apply their own scrutiny and must give approval for funding release.

If we are successful in our request, we will provide a detailed programme, including traffic management arrangements, for the enabling works nearer the time as part of our ongoing community engagement.

Planning

Earlier in the summer we made an application to the Local Planning Authority to amend some of the planning conditions associated with the planning consent granted for the new station and associated highway improvements in March 2023.

Like most developments, the original planning consent is subject to a range of planning conditions, which ensure the impact of the scheme on the local environment, ecology and public safety is properly managed.

With the new application we are seeking greater flexibility for discharging these conditions. This is because different parts of the site will be delivered by different contractors (Network Rail for the station and South Gloucestershire Council’s StreetCare for the highways and car parks) and potentially at different times.

We have now requested some further minor amendments in a revised covering letter as part of this application to help ensure the project keeps to programme and to help us start enabling works in early 2025.

You can view and comment on the application using the reference P24/01637/RVC.

Plans for a train station in Charfield have been given planning permission.

A planning application, submitted by South Gloucestershire Council and Network Rail, for a station, car park and highways improvements has been approved by the Local Planning Authority.

The station will be built on land off Station Road in the centre of the village. It will include two platforms serving north and southbound journeys, a pedestrian footbridge, a bus stop, covered cycle parking, and car parking.

The station will improve access to jobs, further and higher education and a wider variety of services and facilities. It will also help to mitigate some of the impacts of recent permitted development in the area.

Now planning permission has been secured work will progress on detailed designs for the station and highways improvements. Once these are complete a full business case and a request for funding will be submitted to the West of England Combined Authority.

A new project programme will be shared later in the year.

A planning application has been submitted for a train station in Charfield.

The project team has submitted a planning application for the new station to the Local Planning Authority.

The proposed station, to be built on land off Station Road in the centre of the village, will include two platforms serving north and southbound journeys, a pedestrian footbridge, a bus stop, covered cycle parking, and car parking.

The planning application, which has been submitted jointly with Network Rail, also includes proposals for local highway improvements to enhance access to and from the station and car parking.

The Local Planning Authority, which will decide the application, has launched a public consultation, providing an opportunity for people to comment on the application.

You can view and comment on the application. Go to www.southglos.gov.uk/planning-applications and search application number P22/05778/R3F.