Now into 21 years of campaigning, it's looking like hopes that were built up last autumn for the reopening of Stroudwater Railway Station at Stonehouse have hit the buffers – again.

As Punchline-Gloucester.com reported in September, the campaign for Stroudwater Station, felt optimistic for imminent funding of the project, with £18m needed to kickstart the work.

A subsequent indication was given by Stroud MP Siobhan Baillie, says Stroud's Green Party, that the decision was "on the Minister's desk" and ready to be confimed before the end of 2023.

With growing focus on sustainable, low-carbon transport, the plan intended to blow the cobwebs off Stonehouse's direct link south to Bristol after the Bristol Road node was shut down by the Beeching cuts in 1965. 

Currently, commuters from the Stroud area have to either drive to Cam and Dursley rail station or book a train from Stroud via Gloucester or Swindon, the Bristol journey taking 90 minutes. Restoring the north-south direct link could slash that time by 50%. For car users, current commute times from Stroud via the M5 take around 40 minutes.

Set in a triangular central area amid industrial land in Stonehouse, the site of the old station offers good potential for car parking and is close to new housing, as well as Forest Green Rovers' planned Eco Park stadium.

But in the wake of this week's Spring Budget, which carried no reference to the project, Pete Kennedy, the Green Party Parliamentary Candidate for Stroud, claims that the proposals have been "kicked into the long grass".

Mr Kennedy, who lives in Stroud and works as a Green Party advisor in Westminster, said neither the Stroudwater project nor any reference to urgently needed accessibility improvements to Stroud's main railway station were cited.

He said: "But when Ms Baillie asked the Minister for an update last month, the Minister replied only that he would visit the Constituency "to discuss". He added that the words signalled "a significant backtracking".

Suspecting no decision was imminent, Mr Kennedy said he asked Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb, one of the Green Party's members of the House of Lords, to raise the issue in Parliament.

Baroness Jones asked the government: "When they will announce their decision on the Strategic Outline Business Case 'Restoring Your Railway Stroudwater Station' submitted in September 2022; why that decision has not yet been made; and what is the intended purpose of the planned Ministerial visit to Stroudwater Station."

The government Minister, Lord Davies of Gower, confirmed that the Strategic Outline Business Case had been received, but added: "The Department [for Transport] is not yet in a position to provide details on next steps for the scheme, but hopes to be able to do so in due course. Ministers conduct visits for a wide range of reasons, including to help them appreciate local issues in person."

Responding to the Minister's answer, Mr Kennedy said: "The government has now admitted that they aren't announcing next steps for the scheme any time soon; they only 'hope to be able to do so in due course'.

In a recent statement on the funding, Stroud MP Siobhan Baillie said: "The key to reopening the station will be convincing government about the business case and the rail bosses that it's a viable plan at a time where rail use is changing - particularly with more people working from home. I continue to make the case to the rail minister and others for this to happen.

"Right now, I am chasing the Department for Transport for an update on our Strategic Outline Business Case. There are hurdles to jump and it will take time but I am committed to finding a way forward."

Mr Kennedy added: "We need this investment urgently – the direct connection to Bristol will bring so many opportunities to families and businesses in Stroud, Stonehouse and surrounding areas."

● Stonehouse Town Council said that the reopening "would give 55,000 people in the Stroud valleys a fast, green, direct link to Bristol and beyond for work, education and leisure."