Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development

Deleted

 

Quite right! Previous childish comments on Nat Pres have already been remarked on by the persons concerned. Time to move on from personal comments, I suggest.

 

Oops. Corrected.

 

Yes. Very true. This is an apology from me to all concerned, it was uneccesary and unhelpful to anyone's cause.

 

I have reported both of these two comments, and Paul remove or a mod do it the quotes as well on your post.

 

Paul, please will you delete the quoted comments in post 1005 as soon as possible?
I deleted my original post this morning, and I, plus quite a few others, do not wish it to remain visible on a public forum.
Thank you,
Mark

 

Always worth remembering, folks, that comments on a public forum (however friendly that forum may be) are not casual throw away remarks in the mess room, but like painting something in foot high letters on the side of your house...

 

As has been noted previously on this forum, many comments and criticisms that have been submitted to ENPA are phrased in a constructive and positive way, even if they aren't supportive of the application itself. Such challenges are likely to improve the quality of the application - which of course benefits everybody, no matter which 'side' they are on. Given that I'm posting on this forum, its hardly a surprise that I'm supportive of the application, but I'd certainly say some of those considered comments and objections have given me pause for thought. Which is no bad thing.

On a lighter note, the responses are also a brilliant insight into the complexity of this project... My absolute favourite is the 'doormouse bridge' - who even knew such a thing existed? And who could blame the railway for failing to consider this at the first attempt! Fascinating stuff.

 

They do indeed exist and have been experimented with elsewhere.

PH

 

Try google - although the provision of spaces under the rails between sleepers would I would have thought provided a path for these and other rodents and it seams to a non expert as me a minor problem that can easily be accommodated if required.

 

The example I am aware of involved the use of an overline bridge carrying a little used private trackway. It comes as a bit of a surprise how threatened a species dormice are/

PH

 

This seems a bit 'over the top' (pun intended). Department of Transport advice is that dormice are capable of crossing a single track road so I wouldn't have thought a 2ft gauge railway would pose a problem. Indeed in 2009 a family of dormice were found living in the central reserve of the A30 in Cornwall and tagging revealed they were foraging in the adjacent farmland.

 

"Over the top" - I enjoyed that!

I believe the latest on the dormouse bridge is that it shouldn't be required, because judicious pruning of trees should allow sufficient railway clearance, whilst allowing higher branches to still
meet and provide a natural bridge. A new and hitherto unsuspected benefit of narrow gauge - Sir George would surely approve!

 

I remember Bill Bailey covering a dormouse conservation project (Wild Thing, I Love You "Dormice" :2006). AIUI, these little critters prefer to stay aloft. In this particular case, an installation resembling an ivy entwined telephone wire (the overbridge Paul mentioned) was provided to enable dormice to move unmolested between two separate runs of trees.

An elegant and effective technique and if feasible at L&B locations, one possibly worthy of consideration as an adjunct to the 'dormouse bridge' as it would allow these endangered creatures to cross safe from ground predators. As it's also very cost-effective, perhaps a sponsor (BT comes to mind) may be willing to participate? Good for dormice, good for the L&B and great publicity for the sponsor. Worth a look-see?

 

Sounds like a lovely, simple and unobtrusive solution.
One thing that came to mind was just for short distances in the relevant areas, perhaps replicating the old L&B 2-wire telegraph pole route. Although that has the drawback of not actually crossing over the line. Duh! But I dunno- could it be of some use?

 

More responses, both positive and negative, posted on the main planning application. This includes the response from the legal team acting on behalf of the most vocal opposition. Responses don't seem to be in any particular order, so you will have to carefully look through the response dates for anything posted in December or January.

 

Thanks for that. I wonder if David Grob realises the overall effect of his ‘unrestrained’ 3 pages?

Robin

 

Stone the crows! Who'd be a planning officer? @brmp201 great to see all the relevant documentation and responses laid out. Cheers for the link.

 

It appears there is no ENPA meeting in January (despite what it says on their website). So Feb or March will be possibles ....

 

I can only find the one by Foot Ansley for Mrs Grob, which raises a few interesting points, mainly the fact that their client owns a good chunk of trackbed? This is suprising, especially as the L&B said they were negotiating for the purchase of the remaining land, or already had it, so I presume this a recent purchase. Hopefully a judgement will be made on this soon by the EPNA so a start can be made on obtaining a Transport and Works order.