There has been talk of a train station at Hill Barton/Monkerton in Exeter for a while, but so far nothing has happened.
The local area consists of large housing estates, The Met Office (one of the largest employers in Exeter) as well as Devon and Cornwall Police HQ. Exeter Business Park and Sowton industrial estate is a short walk away.
Traffic in Exeter is bad, we know its heavily polluted and congested. Exeter is well served by the train network, yet the Hill Barton area, with the tens of thousands of people that come into and live in the area each day, has relatively poor rail links. Digby and Sowton station and Polsloe Bridge is a good 20-30 minute walk away, even though the train line to Exmouth runs right through the area.
A station at Hill Barton will help reduce the number of car users; employees at the Met Office, Exeter Business Park and local housing estates will be able to easily access services around Exeter, Devon and further afield.
Persimmon Homes have recently built a large housing estate right next to the railway line, they have even left space for a train station for the future. There is even step free access off Hill Barton Road via Hill Barton access point. An idea could be to make this access point one entrance to serve the housing estates whilst another path can lead down to the Met Office - it would be 5 minute walk away.
The cost of the train station would be relatively low as the ground is relatively level at track level, as mentioned above step free access is already available and as its just one track only one platform would be required. With there being so many houses nearby the local community will embrace, use and look after the train station.
The benefit of this station to the whole of Exeter would be a reduction in car journeys, a reduction in pollution in the city and a reduction in traffic
