REPRESENTATIVES from Okehampton Town Council and surrounding communities continue to work together to try to convince the Government to reinstate the railway through Okehampton.

Councillors from Tavistock, Bude-Stratton, Hatherleigh and Holsworthy were among those in Okehampton's council chamber for the latest Destination Okehampton meeting last month.

Chris Bligh, a rail expert who has been a technical adviser to the Destination Okehampton group, is optimistic the railway could come back to Okehampton despite the uncertainty of the political landscape.

He said: 'The Peninsula Rail Task Force Group is saying bringing back the line would cost a lot, but the region has a bigger gross domestic product (GDP) than Bristol and Bath combined, it has a bigger GDP than Manchester. If the money is spent, then there would be a big return.

'No-one is suggesting this would be the main route, but people are waking up to the benefits for the wider area and beginning to recognise the huge economic gain. I think we stand in a good place. No-one was mentioning us two years ago. We are mentioned now.'

One of the strategies the group identified to show the need for the railway was to better promote the summer's Sunday Rover service, which provides several trains from Okehampton to Exeter and back every Sunday.

This year's service will run from Sunday, May 24 to Sunday, September 13.

Some delegates at the meeting felt that the Sunday Rover service had not been the success it might have been, due to a lack of effective promotion and marketing.

The meeting heard that some people had never heard of the service, despite living in the area for many years.

It was felt that the Sunday Rover service could act as a 'precursor, showing the benefits of rail to the area'.

With better promotion of this service, it was said it could be demonstrated how much the area could benefit from the return of a rail service.

The group has decided not to hold another meeting until after the General Election.