Hopes of Devon County Council using a pot of earmarked cash to fund a business case on reinstating the Tavistock to Plymouth rail link appear to be fading.

Campaigners are seeking £1.5 million, one per cent of the total cost of reinstalling the line, to progress their plan to the feasibility stage.

The long-awaited scheme has been left in limbo since the Labour government scrapped the Restoring Your Railway programme which it was part of and it has not been included it in any subsequent government spending reviews.

Without government backing, support has been sought from Devon County Council who hold the purse strings to a £2-million pot of Section 106 community infrastructure funds made up of contributions from developers who have built homes in West Devon.

The money has been earmarked for the railway construction but West Devon Borough Council has asked if it can be used on the business case instead.

However that looks unlikely now concerns have been raised over whether it would be a good use of public money.

A Devon County Council spokesperson explained: “The option of using s106 funding to progress the outline business case has been discussed with Network Rail. However, they raised concerns that without the scheme being part of a future government-funded programme (following the government’s scrapping of the Restoring Your Railway programme), any surveys, design or cost estimation can quickly become outdated and would potentially be abortive, which would not be good use of public funds.”

Network Rail said it would welcome any engagement from third parties who may be interested in investing in the railway.

Leader of the Labour-run Plymouth City Council Tudor Evans, who recently met transport minister Lord Hendy to explain the need for better transport links into the city said the rail line from Tavistock and a new station at Plympton as part of a Plymouth metro service was vital for the future.

With 25,000 new jobs coming to the city with the £4.4 billion investment in defence and expansion of Devonport Dockyard railway, connectivity plans needed to progress quickly, he said.

“We know the timetable for planning stuff on the railways takes a long time so we need to get a move on or we could be waiting another ten to 15 years,” he said. 

“None of these things are easy or cheap but the transformation of Plymouth’s economy over the next two decades is going to be incredible, I still don’t think a lot of people have really grasped just how big it is going to be in terms of new jobs and what the impact will be on our transport system.

He said they also needed a much more intensified rail offer if they were going to make commuting trendy again in Plymouth.

“There is a reason why from Bere Alston to Plymouth there is a railway station at Keyham, Devonport, Dockyard and St Budeaux. It’s a legacy of a long time ago when it used to be the normal way of getting to the dockyard for a lot of people, it’s back to the future really.

“The money that could pay for business case to continue the line to Tavistock is already held by Devon County Council and Lord Hendy is pointing us in that direction… we will be having conversations about this with the county.”

Cllr Evans said there were future discussions to be had with the government in terms of funding the rail line construction.

“The money coming into Plymouth is not just about defence but economic growth, housing and transport and involves a whole government endeavour. We want this rail scheme to be seen in this light and that’s where we will be taking the case.”