TOWN councillors from Andover and Ludgershall have worked together to draft a white letter to propose a £4million scheme to re-open the Andover to Ludgershall rail line.

Written by Andover Town Councillor Christopher Ecclestone the covering letter cites the thousands of properties being built in the north of Test Valley and the need to provide better transport connections for potential satellite developments.

He says that the ‘solution’ would be to create two new Whitchurch-sized ‘villages’ based upon town planning foundations like Poundbury in Dorset.

“The obvious candidates for this would be those existing settlements with good transport connections, and these are Grateley on the existing Salisbury line and Weyhill, on the closed, but still functioning Ludgershall line.” said Cllr Ecclestone.

“The budget for doing this would be less than four million pounds and would involve a shuttle service running from Ludgershall to Basingstoke stopping at all the intermediate stops, including Weyhill.

“While Ludgershall and Weyhill have remained largely undeveloped for decades, Tidworth has been a subject of massive expansion in recent years and now has become a sizeable town.

“In a sort of Catch-22 situation the poor connections of Weyhill and Ludgershall and the planning policies of Test Valley Borough Council in the specific case of Weyhill have meant that the areas have not been targeted as satellite growth areas for the currently over-stretched Andover.

“Weyhill and Ludgershall are obvious candidates for growth in the case that a rail connection is reopened to service them.

“Weyhill in particular could be expanded as a sort of ‘New Model Town’ in the mode of Poundbury in Dorset.

He added: “Reactivation of the line to Ludgershall would provide superior connections to the major population centres for communities along the reopened line with growth in housing to reduce pressure on Andover.

“It would also reduce traffic pressure on the area’s roads.

“As the track is still in situ and in working condition as far as Ludgershall the main investment would be rebuilding station facilities at Ludgershall and Weyhill.

“An extra line could be connected at Andover to return the station to through-working with three platforms.”