Bath Spa University said it would expand its base in Corsham if the rail station was reopened.

The town's vice chancellor, Professor Christina Slade, met the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport Claire Perry on Friday to underline the university’s support for the campaign.

Bath Spa University already has a specialist centre for postgraduate teaching and research at Corsham Court but would expand its presence in the town if a rail link was provided.

Professor Slade said: “The larger plans of a major campus would be considerable but that wouldn’t happen for a while and couldn’t happen unless there was this transport link or at least it would be very much more difficult to get it right.

“I don’t know how many people there would be at present in Corsham, but if you had a population of two to three thousand students it would just transform it.

“We already have several hundred students at a time here at Corsham Court and if we could get another couple of thousand that would just really transform the small shops, the high street, all of those areas of an economy.”

The university believes the station is vital to allow Corsham Court to grow as a campus and also has plans to work with the Corsham Institute at Hartham Park.

Professor Slade said: “We’ve got all sorts of plans to work at Hartham Park with, in particular, the Corsham Institute; ideally one could imagine a campus of several thousand students.”