Sampford Courtenay residents were likely or high likely to use the Dartmoor Line if the train stopped at the village’s station, according to a survey completed last week.

Hundreds of residents living to the north and east of Okehampton completed the survey which was organised jointly between Sampford Courtenay Parish Council, North Tawton Town Council and Bondleigh Parish Council as part of a feasibility report for the reopening of Sampford Courtenay Station.

Sampford Courtenay resident Kim Allsebrook, who supports the campaign, said: ‘Where I’m living, there are 31 properties but on average two people per property, most elderly. You can’t even get into Okehampton just to do some shopping or getting to doctors, because there isn’t any public transport. It’s disgusting. We’re completely cut off.

‘When the summer train was running it was fantastic. It really was nice. They used to have a request stop thing going there. It worked really, really well.’

The results of the survey, which was completed by 511 people, revealed that 83 percent use their car to commute, however 61 percent of respondents said they would be willing to use the train to commute to work if it stopped at Sampford Courtenay.

Meanwhile 92 percent of respondents said they used their car to travel for purposes other than commuting, though 91 percent said they would be willing to take the train instead from Sampford Courtenay station.

As yet no no date for the feasibility study has been given but Network Rail and OkeRail, the organisation integral to the reopening of Okehampton Station, have been investigating the possibility of such a re-opening.

Richard Westlake, vice-chair of OkeRail, said: ‘We’re looking at it obviously. The problem they had was that if Okehampton Parkway went ahead, it would be not that far away and there would be a large purpose built car parked there for people to park in that area.

‘Network Rail weren’t against it, but they were having a review of the whole situation. It was also very much related to the problem of timing of the trains because now it’s an hourly service. It’s stopping trains, they’re pulling away again. If they did that, and then they had all stops in Parkway as well they wouldn’t be able to get the margins in for an hourly service.

‘It’s very helpful to have a survey and to have the reactions from the community around there, that they would use the service if it did stop there.’

A bid for Levelling Up funding for a second Okehampton train station, known as Okehampton Parkway, has been submitted and bidders are currently awaiting the results.

This is the second bid that West Devon Borough Council has put in to cover the construction costs of a new station. following the council’s failure to receive any funding in a previous round.