A plan to reopen the railways station at Pontrilas in southwest Herefordshire have been killed off, with the county council declaring the investment would be “poor value for money”.

Ahead of a Herefordshire Council cabinet meeting this afternoon (September 28), former cabinet member for transport John Harrington asked his Conservative successor Coun Philip Price whether he still backed the Pontrilas plan, backed by the previous administration.

Coun Price replied he had concluded that the project “offers poor value for money as, should it be built, it is likely that the scheme will not create additional capacity but will simply transfer journeys from other stations or the bus network”.

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The station “will also slow journeys as trains will be required to stop more frequently”, he added in his written reply.

“I would be unwilling to saddle the council with the additional financial risk that building a new station would present at this time.”

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The station, on the Hereford-Abergavenny line, closed in 1958 after nearly 100 years in use.

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Mr Harrington said it was “important, particularly with a by election in an adjoining [Golden Valley South] ward coming up, to know this administration's position on a community project that was being supported and driven forward by the previous administration”.

The idea has also been supported for some time by local Conservative MP Jesse Norman, who is a Government transport minister, and who worked with the local Ewyas Harold parish council to formulate the idea.

Mr Norman has been approached for comment.