Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development

Out of interest and off topic - was your application successful?

 

The green line has moved further towards Parracombe.
Now raised over £1ook

https://www.lynton-rail.co.uk/news/return-parracombe-appeal-june-update

 

This is the link to the main application relating to the trackbed :-

https://planning.agileapplications.co.uk/exmoor/application-details/23268

Hopefully a quick search will find you the other ones (road accesses etc)

 

Many thanks!

 

I see that one of the latest objections relates to the (imagined) need to have high intensity lighting to ensure safe operation of the turntable at PE. This overlooks the fact that - currently at least - AIUI the railway is not allowed to operate during hours of darkness anyway. Any comparison between the use and effects of a TT at PE and the one at Minehead is completely disproportionate, as the circumstances and usage are completely different. Stuart Nelhams (currently the GM at WB, but previously working with the WSR at Minehead) debunked such concerns in a useful posting elsewhere on FB and my own experience over the years there agree with his conclusions.

Similarly there is a complaint about 'the lights from signals', whereas in fact it is quite probable that there will be no need for signals at PE anyway (much like KL). Indeed, in the design work for signalling in Phase 2A, we have tried to eliminate the potential for 'light pollution' from signals as much as possible, to the extent that in some locations we are looking at 'approach lit' signals which will be illuminated only when a train is actually approaching.

 

I'd call that good news. Consider .... put yourself in the position of the adjudicating officer ....

 

For those with regular knowledge of the L&B operations, does the present Killington Lane terminus generate any problems with traffic? I appreciate you can't board there, but is there any inconsiderate parking, etc, by those who just want to see the train? If there are no problems, it is reasonable to suggest a similar picture at a future Parracombe station.

 

The problem with this approach is that the two roads aren't that similar: Parracombe Halt is a single track road with housing around it and nowhere to park, whereas Killington Lane is not so constrained.

 

Parracombe Halt...........hardly overwhelmed with housing. People rarely join the train at Killington Lane; when they do they are generally walkers. There are certainly no traffic problems associated with the activities of the L&BR at KL. Most traffic past the gate is for the DCC Highways Depot and Higher Bodley Farm.

 

You can board the train there AFAIK - I assume that the guard would sell you a ticket - anyone know please? But of course, to do that you have to get there first (goes without saying!) and unless you've walked or had a car or be given a lift then I doubt that many people would bother. I've been there a few times by car as I've stopped off when driving back south from WB to photo an arriving train and there usually plenty of room in the entrance to the turning opposite to Bodley.

As others have said, PE is a 'different kettle of fish' entirely and I can quite understand the concerns of the locals. To what extent those concerns might be proven correct in future is difficult to say. I just find it a little hard to understand why, in an area that survives to quite a large extent on tourism, yet seems to have relatively few visitors at PE, the potential of more visitors is not seen as an 'opportunity' rather than something to be discouraged at all costs. But then, I accept, I don't actually live there....

 

Boarding the train at KL is not only discouraged but is incredibly rare, Passengers who do so have to buy a regular (return) ticket upon arrival at WB. Stopping off at KL isn't a great idea either as you'd be blocking access to both the station complex and the neighbouring field/bridleway.

 

The number of people who have started their L&BR journey at KL over the last few years can be counted on the fingers of one hand; the majority of those that join a train there have alighted from an earlier train and have enjoyed a walk either to Hunters Inn or to Parracombe. Incidentally, the guards do not issue tickets; they are sold at Woody Bay.

 

I get the impression it's an area people move to because it is devoid of tourism and that is what they find attractive, although that's may be a bit of generalisation

 

Given the traffic whenever I've been in the area, "devoid of tourism" seems a stretch. Perhaps its just that tourists don't visit Parracombe?

 

No, it wasn't. A wealthy person, who lives a half mile along the valley and would not have been able to see our proposed house, except when driving past, used his influence to see the application kicked out.

 

North Devon is definitely a tourist destination and ironically the majority of the blow-in's no doubt decided to move down here when they were tourists to the area, once here they want to put a halt to any tourism attractions without a though that a lot of the locals rely on seasonal work to see them through the quieter months due to higher rents because they have been priced out of the housing market due to these people moving down from more affluent parts of the country

 

It's the same no doubt in other areas, certainly is here in Cumbria.

 

Added to that a lot of people are now working from home and would rather do that in a rural location and as a consequence are moving to the Country. Providing of course that the Broadband connections are adequate. They then start to moan about farmers working with tractors - the noise [and smell] of farm animals and the like. Some friends of ours lived in Dymchurch right by the RHDR - their purchasers viewed the property when the railway was not operating then moaned in the summer when the steam services were operating.

Anyone moving close to the trackbed of the L and B should know that reinstatement of the line is on the Local plan and is going to happen at some stage. Interestingly reinstatement of the RVR in East Sussex was on the local plan subject to, amongst other things, finding a way to cross the A21 - I think the locals thought this was a show stopper and thought no more about it - until discussions about a Level Crossing became positive. I suspect [as someone stated earlier] the current objectors felt that the fact that one of the landowners near Parracombe has no intention of selling the trackbed to the railway as a show stopper, especially given the condition imposed by ENPA that the whole trackbed should be in the control of the L and B. Concern over the possibility that ENPA may change these conditions has given rise to all sorts of new objections.

 

I don't think that we should get our hopes up that these variations will be granted. I hope that enough of them are to lock in the planning permission, and that we get on and submit the TWAO application - I don't understand what has delayed this since 2018 (ie, long pre-COVID), but some firm dates would be most welcome.