Mangapps under threat - request for support

Lovely shot. The building is one of the two at Mangapps from the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway - it's either ex-Horam or ex-Laxfield.

 

Sorry I should have said Laxfield, Mid Suffolk Railway not Essex, got my geography a bit wrong. Now corrected

 

Not just Salisbury, almost every town in the SE!

The village where I grew up has recently had another 200 houses added - nothing in the way of facilities of course. There's one bus a day most of the week - and that comes back too early for anyone working 9-5, so everyone in those houses will have to commute by car (unless they are lucky enough to work from home) - and yet they built an average of 1.5 parking spaces per house.

In the town I live in now, there's loads of new estates sprining up - one new school. No new GPs (but don't worry, the existing ones only have double the national average number of patients per doctor...). Fewer jobs - the offices in the town have largely been turned into flats. We're commuting distance from London - but both railway and motorway are massively overcrowded - and yet they keep telling everoyne we should get back to the office.

We have a housing crisis, we keep being told - and yet there are whole luxury tower blocks in London standing empty, bought as investments. There are whole streets in quite a few northern towns standing empty, because there are no jobs. There are towns in many tourist areas where substantial proportions of the housing is second homes that stand empty most of the year, and much of the rest is holiday lets/AirBnBs. And the new estates that are built, mostly consist of 4 or 5 bedrom houses that most people can't afford. Maybe some of these need attention before we build over yet more prime farmland, remembering that we already can't feed ourselves as a nation...

Rant over...

 

Morning all, I trust you've had a Merry Christmas and that 2023 will see a further return to normality for all of us.

Mangapps under threat! It's probably more accurate to say "An aspect of Mangapps may be under threat", but that's hardly a catchy headline and I doubt that it would have sparked the interesting discussion that's taken place on this thread, let alone produced the objections to the proposed development from Mangapps' supporters that have been added to those of local residents.

First, let me be quite clear- Mangapps Railway is not closing, nor is there any danger of it doing so- it's weathered the Covid storm, which was certainly a threat, completed a £2+ million improvement scheme (largely financed, dare I say it, by the sale of some development land) and being entirely owned by it's family partnership, it's future is secure, even though it may have some new neighbours. Even their presence may not be entirely negative- one of the building schemes that has recently received planning permission on our western boundary is for 300+ retirement homes- with any luck some of the prospective occupiers may be railway enthusiasts and potential volunteers! Our open surroundings and, unfortunately, the wildlife that currently lives there, may be compromised, but we can mitigate that to some extent, as can the developers, but they will only do so if forced, i.e. by having their application refused at the first hearing- they can then try to come to some arrangement with us to satisfy our objections before a second application and, if they still get turned down, can appeal to the Planning Inspectorate, which gives them yet another opportunity to find an accommodation with us and other objectors.

We also have, if not exactly an ace up our sleeve, a very useful bargaining chip- this application includes arrangements for pedestrian access to the site- very important in these days of "sustainability"- but this can only be provided over the property of two third parties, one of whom is us- in other words, we have what is known in the planning/development trade as a ransom strip.

A couple of other points from the thread- the application site is not within the Local Development Plan, but neither were several other major developments given PP in the area recently. It's beginning to look as though, in this area anyway, the LDP isn't worth the paper it's written on. Oh, and Westernregionhampshireman need not be concerned- Mangapps won't bite the dust! 47579, which is owned by the Mangapps Partnership, will probably stay in Hampshire for the foreseeable future. We have a very good relationship with the MHR, who look after the loco very well. It's too big for regular operation at Mangapps, though our agreement allows for it to come home from time to time (the last time was in 2019) Meanwhile, we have a more-than-adequate operational loco fleet- 5 x 03/04s, 2 x 31s and, of course, "Brookfield", which will hopefully be back in steam for Easter. 80078 is a slightly different situation- it's only nominally a Mangapps loco, owned by one of our longest-serving volunteers and supporters, who was responsible for creating much of our infrastructure and is now doing much the same at the MNR. Like 47579, it's too big for regular operation at Mangapps, but we welcome it back from time to time- again, the last time was in 2019.

 

Nice to hear from you John, still need to come and pay you a visit!

 

It's good to know that you're alive and kicking. Your posts were always informed and to the point. In my view, it's a shame you're no longer a regular contributor on here.

regards
Steve

 

I do believe reports of John’s demise in the past were greatly exaggerated @Steve In all seriousness as you say I’m someone else who misses his contributions. Someone who’s always been polite and courteous in their correspondence with myself.

 

For info, I've just had a look on the Maldon DC website and the planning application was refused in May 2023.