In the run up to the May 2026 Senedd elections Carno Station Action Group have asked for the support of candidates, and expressed our outrage at the lack of support from the Welsh government. Our press release garnered us coverage in the County Times!

You can find the news story here.

In our press release we said:

REOPEN CARNO RAILWAY STATION – SENEDD CANDIDATES BACKING SOUGHT

We are a group campaigning for our local railway station. To get political backing we have asked all the candidates for the Gwynedd Maldwyn constituency that are up for election to the Senedd for their support.

We are a strong local action group. We have made many steps forward but also received serious setbacks.

In 2018-19 the Welsh Government made a list of stations to prioritise for reopening. Carno was one of the FOUR STATIONS selected. The Welsh Government submitted an application to the Westminster Government for funding to re-open all four in the 2020 round of the New Station Fund, but the bid for Carno was unsuccessful.

Following the upcoming Senedd elections, the Welsh Government will be submitting another application to Westminster for rail infrastructure funding – including new stations. However we were extremely disappointed to learn last year that they no longer intend to include Carno station. In fact we were outraged at this sudden and complete reversal of policy.

The reopening of Carno Station would reinvigorate the local economy, by improving access to jobs and further education for our community. We are keen to get a clear commitment from the candidates for the Senedd that they will back the station re-opening if they are elected.

Regular Country Times letter writer, Rattus Rattus, has taken aim at the political establishment with their latest letter to the County Times noting the lack of funding for rail travel in Mid Wales. Read the letter here.

What do you think? Why is Mid Wales always left out when it comes to funding and support for public transport?

Carno Station Action Group has been fortunate to have the support of some key figures, including Steve Witherden, our MP.

On 11th February the Country Times covered our campaign. You can read the article here.

Witherden makes the case for reopening stations, and his proposed amendment to the Great British Railways Bill which would make this easier. The article was supported by a Facebook post and video on Witherden’s page, which outlines his commitment. On 22nd February Steve Witherden expressed, through his Facebook page, disappointment that the latest round of funding for new stations has seen no commitment to mid Wales. Search for Steve Witherden on Facebook to see his posts and support for our campaign.

The more public figures who back our campaign, the more likely we are to be heard. Do you have contacts or access to networks where we can share our message and campaign? Get in touch – we need the help of everyone in Carno and surrounding areas who will benefit from a reopened station!

 

 

What’s happening with our campaign?

1. We have plans to have a new protest banner at both ends of the village…
   GORSAF CARNO NAWR / CARNO STATION NOW
2. There is now a new Facebook page, ‘Reopen CARNO station’ with information
   and lots of photos, including the special meeting attended by at least 50 villagers,
   also attended by our local MP Steve Witherden.
3. The Website, ‘Carno Station Action Group’ will now be regularly updated.
4. Steve Witherden MP has sent a letter asking for support to Ken Skates. He is a member of the Welsh Government and Cabinet Secretary for Transport, so it is important that we should have his backing. A key point in the letter is investigating alternative platform sites towards the centre of the village, this would greatly reduce the overall costs as the level crossing would not have to be replaced.
5. There is a new Railways Bill before parliament to enable the creation of Great British Railways (GBR) the aim is to deliver fundamental reform. The Rt Hon Heidi Alexander MP is the Secretary of State for Transport, she has put out a news release ‘Rail Reform in the Wales and Borders area’. A partnership agreement will be developed between Great British Railways and Transport for Wales (TfW) This is a positive development & we shall emphasise this in future communications with Ken Skates.
6. There was a special meeting with Jake Berriman, Leader of Powys County Council and Tony Caine, Powys County Council, Traffic & Transport Manager. One of the key issues discussed was the fact that Bow Street Station, just 8 minutes drive north of Aberystwyth, managed to leap-frog Carno to obtain funding under the New Stations Fund. The station has now been built & this success could be attributed to Ceredigion County Councils’ whole hearted backing of the project. We put to Jake Berriman that we would like to have a similar level of support for Carno Station from Powys County Council. Jake Berriman responded that Powys CC could write a letter of support, but it would be far more powerful if the Carno Community Council put together a development plan for the new station site with landowner agreement. There is a Powys Local Development Plan 2022-2037. Jake Berriman confirmed that it was not too late to include the proposed Carno Station development in the plan.
7. The next meeting of the Carno Station Action Group is on Tuesday 9th Dec 7:00pm at the Community Centre – Everybody is Welcome!

Following a request from Ysgol Carno we organised a short chat with one of the classes, talking about the history – and the future – of the station campaign. The current Secretary of CSAG John Ellison, visited Miss Rowlands’ class and had a lively and enjoyable discussion while they looked at some old photographs of the station and goods shed before it was surrounded by the Laura Ashley offices. One of the questions for John was, why do we need a station in Carno. He replied by saying that when they are older and looking for employment, they would have more job options without the expense of buying a car to travel to work. Or, if they find work locally then visitors and holidaymakers could come here and help make local employers successful. John commented – “All in all I think we all had a good time and (hopefully) they all know a bit more about the station campaign.”

The class teacher, Emma Rowlands added “Following the visit the children are now keen to play their part and have asked what they can do to help. We hope to arrange a fundraising event to donate to the cause. They are very keen and thoroughly enjoyed the visit.”

The pictures below were taken by Miss Rowlands and are used by permission.

 

CSAG will have a stall at Carno Show this year on Saturday 20th August 2022 from 2pm. Please come and have a chat and ask any questions you might have and we will do our best to answer them.

We will be inviting people to have a photo taken to show their support for the campaign.  If we get enough we will post them here after the show to say thankyou. See you there!

On the 19th May 2022 in the House of Commons , in a debate about Connectivity and the Railways, Craig Williams asked a question to the Rail Minister Wendy Morton. The record from Hansard is shown below:

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Craig Williams (Montgomeryshire) (Con)
What steps his Department is taking to connect more towns to the railway network.

The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Wendy Morton)
The Government are investing record levels in rail enhancements across England and Wales. The £500 million restoring your railway fund is currently supporting more than 45 schemes to reconnect communities and reverse the Beeching cuts.

Craig Williams
Will my hon. Friend join me in paying tribute to the Carno station action group, which has campaigned for more than two decades to reopen Carno station? I implore her to meet me to talk about the Welsh Government’s kind offer to put forward 25% of the funding to open the station at Carno in Montgomeryshire.

Wendy Morton
I know that my hon. Friend is a fantastic champion for all things to do with Montgomeryshire, particularly for better transport. Sir Peter Hendy’s Union connectivity review supported further improvements between mid-Wales and the midlands. We are obviously considering them very carefully, but I would be more than happy to meet my hon. Friend.

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We would like to thank Craig once again for his support for the campaign and look forward to meeting with him soon to discuss the details of his meeting with Wendy Morton.

The campaign for a new station in Carno has been in the local news again. Click HERE to see a short article in the County Times and HERE for a longer, two page spread in the Cambrian News.

 

Lee Waters, the Welsh Government Deputy Minister responsible for Rail has written to the UK Minister for Transport Grant Shapps, contesting the refusal for funding for Carno and Ely Mill stations. The letter is supported by a Technical report from Transport for Wales which details why they thought that the reasons given for the rejection were incorrect. The letter and supporting report can be read on the Welsh government website HERE.

CSAG are encouraged that the Welsh Government are still supporting the opening of a station at Carno, and are pushing at the highest levels to move the project forward.

After a long, long delay we finally received the news today that the application for funding for the station has been rejected by the UK Government. This is because, we believe, the costs in the application from the Welsh Government were too high. Looking at those application documents it is clear that those estimated costs when compared to say St Clears, were inflated by what we believe were unnecessary and expensive infrastructure around the new platform. This meant that the cost for the single platform proposal for Carno was significantly more than the two-line, two platform station at St Clears. In our view this gave the application for Carno little chance of success and we deeply regret not being involved in the preparation of those documents before the funding application was made.

Having said that, this is the furthest the campaign has ever got, and we have been told by the UK Department for Transport that this unsuccessful bid will not stop further bids when future funding becomes available. Whilst very disappointed with todays announcement, we look forward to working with the Welsh Government, Craig Williams MP, and Russell George MS, to produce a new station proposal which will allow us to provide this much needed resource to the residents of Carno and the surrounding area.