The Wantage & Grove Station Supporters group today had an exceptionally productive meeting mainly regarding economic benefits of Grove Parkway station. Called at the suggestion of Paul McSweeney in his role at Harwell campus and attended by Olly Glover MP, Andrew Holding of the Wantage & Grove Station Supporters Group and Richard Stow Chairman of Railfuture Thames Valley. Paul stressed the growth of Harwell 15,000 employees within the next five to ten years and that it was the centre of the science base for the Southeast and a new station would boost access for employees and investors as Didcot Parkway is not always being the best option for connectivity. Olly Glover MP Said he had spoken to Lord Sir Patrick Valance, minister of state for science, in his role on the transport select committee about the benefits of extending the Oxford Cambridge Arc corridor to Wantage & Grove and he was pleased to say that he found Lord Valance very receptive to his ideas. Richard Stow Chairman for Railfuture noted the project for a station has universal support and welcomed warmly the support from both Olly and Paul who realise the tremendous economic benefits a new station would give, coupled with the upgrade of transport through the Oxford corridor. Andy Holding thanked all those who attended and noted this transport scheme in particular gives huge economic benefits to not only the Wantage & Grove area but to the UK economy in general. It is hoped to have another meeting when the statement of business case is released for Wantage Station later this year, this is currently being undertaken on behalf of Oxfordshire County Council.
 

27 March 2025 Oxfordshire County Council has commissioned rail development, financing and delivery specialists SLC to produce a key document that will build the case for a new railway station in Wantage and Grove, a growing part of Oxfordshire that has been without a direct rail service since 1964.
After a competitive tendering process, SLC was selected to create the Strategic Outline Case (SOC) for the proposed station. This document will look at its case across strategic, market, economic, and operational dimensions, taking into account the substantial population growth in the region in recent years. The SOC will also explore various options for delivering the station.
Ian Baxter, Director at SLC, said: “We’re excited to be appointed to this project, which aligns with our experience in early-stage feasibility work for new stations. We’ve been involved in designing, building and operating stations across Britain and are passionate about the positive economic and environmental impacts such projects have for local communities and regional connectivity.”
Oxfordshire County Council is leading on the promotion of the station and will be working closely with Network Rail, Great Western Railway (GWR) and Vale of White Horse and South Oxfordshire district councils to progress any plans.
SLC will also be supported by AECOM on this work.

As of December 2025, Abingdon & Witney College support improved public transport services, to & from the proposed Wantage & Grove Station, and improved public transport bus services to & from their campus facilities.
Their facility at Abingdon employs 650 staff, educates c.800 apprentices, and c.8,000 part-time day & evening students.

​David presents his Grove Station Petition to Parliament | David Johnston (david-johnston.org.uk)

Come and visit us at stand 17 on Sunday 25th June 2023 from 11am until 3pm.

We will be having a colouring competition with prizes to be won!!  The winning prize is a family ticket to Didcot Railway Centre!! 

Hi All,

Come and visit the Grove & Wantage Extravaganza this Saturday 17th June 2023 from 12 noon.
#WAGS (Wantage & Grove Station) Supporters will have stall at Grove Rugby Club, so pop by and say hi to us.

We will be holding a competition on the day for the best logo for the group with some little prizes to be won too.
​
#Grove #wantage #extravaganza #saturday #events

​​The S9 bus service is good to have for the Wantage & Grove community but in the last 13 years it is taking longer to travel to Oxford (Osney Island/Frideswide Square.
In my April 2023 example during the peak hours, it is taking S9 buses 6 minutes longer than in December 2010.  Furthermore, the buses have very little traffic on the Botley road due to the road closure at Osney Island and passengers then have a short 0.3 mile walk to Frideswide Square which takes approximately 6 minutes. 
 
So, a total time of 49 minutes to Oxford Station/Frideswide square.
 
The same journey by a proposed train from Wantage & Grove Parkway Station according to the 2018 study was around 32 minutes via Didcot Parkway and the onto Oxford Station.  Thus, a time saving 17 minutes on current S9 bus journey times including the walking time from Osney to Frideswide Square/Oxford Station.
I will be watching this area with interest as our roads are becoming more congested with the growing population in this area and surrounding areas, especially as some OCC forecasts estimate 42,511 living in this area by 2031 and an estimated 2,000 jobs at Grove Business Park which is within close- proximity of the proposed Parkway station.
Another way of looking at this is cost to businesses and most importantly the employees as an extra 17 minutes over the average working year (211 days) equates to an extra 3,587 minutes multiply this again due to the return journey home 7,174 minutes or an extra 119.5 hours travelling by S9 bus into Oxford or 3 working weeks travelling by bus into Oxford from Grove.  If I assume the average living wage for Oxfordshire is £11.35/hour this has a cost of £1,356.33/person.
 
It’s has been a little difficult for me to find exact data of the community working locations, but some data suggest 64% of our population work outside of Wantage & Grove, with around 36% working in the local area. 
So, assuming 3,000 constituents from Wantage & Grove use the train into Oxford, this has an economic saving to community of over £4 million- per year by travelling by train rather than the S9 bus.
It is good bus fares are being supported by the Government, but this is coming at a cost of £200 million to all of us.  Yes, it’s good to help households on low incomes but the Government could apply a similar scheme to opening railway stations and putting a cap on rail fares too.