The West of England’s metro mayor has pledged to ‘fast-track’ the opening of a new train station, set to serve a yet-to-be-built arena and a new town in South Gloucestershire, ensuring it will open next year. The ‘North Filton’ train station, part of the massive Brabazon development west of Bristol Parkway, will accompany 6,500 new homes, a ‘new town’, and a 19,000-capacity arena in a repurposed hangar at the old Filton Airfield.
This week, the Malaysian Prime Minister launched the new town concept as part of new trade deals and investment with the UK. YTL, a Malaysian firm that has owned Wessex Water for over two decades, is responsible for building the new homes and creating the arena.
As part of the Brabazon development, a new train station will be built on the Henbury line. Metro Mayor Dan Norris welcomed the £2 billion investment in the Bristol region and announced plans to ensure the new train station opens sooner rather than later.
The date the new station would open has been delayed before, and most recently was expected to be 2027, but with hopes that it could be 2026. Now, Mr Norris said it would be – a spokesperson for the West of England Combined Authority said the Mayor attended the event in London with the Malaysian Prime Minister and ‘confirmed plans which aim to accelerate the delivery of the new train station so that it opens in 2026’.
“The West of England is continuing to secure major investment, to create new jobs and economic growth now and over coming years,” he said. “An even smoother trading relationship with Malaysia will only help accelerate plans for Bristol’s long-awaited arena, as well as more new homes on the former Filton Airfield. YTL remain committed to investing in our part of the world, and their latest £2 billion plans will be a further real boost for the region – delivering more than 30,000 jobs.
“My Mayoral Combined Authority supports building homes in the right place with the right infrastructure. The new train station will be crucial for helping people get to the UK’s third largest arena and get around the West of England,” he added.
It now looks like the train station at North Filton will see its first trains before the YTL Arena sees its first pop stars. Earlier this month, Bristol Live revealed the latest update from arena bosses to council planners was that work had not yet begun actually converting the huge building, as work to clear and demolish parts of it to prepare for the conversion was still ongoing.
An artist’s impression of the new North Filton Station, which was granted planning approval today (January 24).
With a two-and-a-half-year build programme, it now looks likely that the YTL Arena won’t be completed and ready until the end of 2027, but most probably into the start of 2028.
The new train station at North Filton has been repeatedly controversial for almost a decade. Critics have long questioned why the taxpayer is funding a £100m station and bus improvements to serve YTL’s private housebuilding development, and more recently, GWR were criticised for only planning to have trains calling at the new station only once an hour – which would not be ideal for an event at the YTL Arena with 19,000 people attending.
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