MEMBERS of Saltash Town Council are angry about a request from Wessex Trains to make short term improvements to the appearance of the town's station. The town council were asked to 'touch up' the look of the station in preparation for transport minister, Tony McNulty, passing through Saltash on his way to the opening of the £14m Probus Rail project on Tuesday. However, the town council rejected these plans, instead inviting Mr McNulty to step on to the platform at Saltash to take a look at the site himself. However, the train did not stop. And following the council's decision to veto the 'clean up' proposals, workmen in an unmarked van were seen pulling up weeds, trimming down bushes and sweeping the station prior to Mr McNulty's journey through Cornwall. To do this, it was suggested that the workmen would have to scale the six-to-seven foot fence, with a locked four foot gate. For some time, Saltash Town Council has been attempting to secure a public/private funding package to restore the derelict Saltash station, the first building to be seen by rail visitors to Cornwall. Local Conservative spokesman Ashley Gray visited Saltash railway station last Friday and said: 'I was stunned to hear that the town council have been asked if the old ticket office and waiting room could be screened off so as not to upset the minister on his arrival in Cornwall. 'I understand that Wessex Trains even offered to add a dab of paint so the station would look prettier. The town council were rightly unimpressed by this suggestion.'
Eyesore A spokesperson for Wessex Trains admitted that the town council had been asked to screen off part of the station, saying that it was 'somewhat of an eyesore'. Martin Gee, town councillor and chairman of the development committee, said: 'The town council agreed that they wouldn't put money into the station. We were not prepared to paint just one side of the station building. We have got to address the whole issue. There is little point in putting good money after bad.' Town and Caradon councillor Baz Gregory described Wessex's proposals to 'tart up' the station as a short term measure to 'covering up the sins of Saltash station'. Mr Gregory said: 'Whilst we support and congratulate Probus, we feel miserable and totally let down by the people who can help our station. I perhaps wonder if the trains accelerated when they went through the station to hide away the truth of the derelict state of the gateway to Cornwall.' Discussions are currently underway in a bid to secure the future of the station as a whole, with proposals including turning the old station building into a museum and art gallery showing vintage TSW footage, while there are also plans to build a high quality restaurant. However, Ashley Gray praised the town and local partnerships in working hard to achieve a sustainable level of funding to transform the station into a more fitting gateway to Cornwall, but suggested that 'a little help from the minister would be mighty welcome.'