Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development

Does anyone know the actual reasons for refusal?

 

Could this be suggested at the AGM?[/QUOTE]
I would just gently suggest that merely fencing the land off will not prevent it from being returned to its former owner...

 

I would presume that the Councillors simply agreed with the conclusions of their Officer's Report?

 

I think this goes some way to explaining it: from the agenda to the meeting, page 72...

(see https://www.exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0022/146632/May-06-2025-Planning-Committee.pdf for the full documentation to the meeting)

 

The Board have other priorities.[/QUOTE]

Well, it may well do, but....what can be more important than, having bought a much-needed section of trackbed, it does not then forfeit it by its own inaction, only to have to try to raise more funds to buy it back again at some later date?

 

I would just gently suggest that merely fencing the land off will not prevent it from being returned to its former owner...[/QUOTE]
Do you know the wording of the agreement?

 

So.....the potential benefits of the CFL scheme to the public good do not outweigh the 'harm' to a kitchen garden wall?
Are they serious? What exactly is this 'harm' and how was it measured objectively?
I believe the phrase is - "you're 'aving a giraffe mate"

 

Do you know the wording of the agreement?[/QUOTE]

Maybe someone could ask Mike Buse, since he signed the original agreement, unless, of course, the trust has changed the condition themselves in the process

 

Do you know the wording of the agreement?[/QUOTE]
No, does anybody? I was merely suggesting that a fence can easily be removed, and possession can be restored if that is the agreement.

 

Interesting, thank you!

 

Having just read the Exmoor Agenda, it does make a lot of sense, and it does have implications for the whole area that, as railway enthusiasts, we may not think about. That said, it now has to be down to the Trust to look at this as very helpful if they want to develop any other part of the railway in the ENP area. As I see it, it clearly lays down the ground rules for the rebuilding between Blackmoor and Lynton, and these need to be considered in any future planning.

 

To be fair, the wall was there first...
What we might see as a perfectly-engineered embankment, an enhancement to our railway, and a joy to behold, they could consider a heap of sh... er - cr... er - rubbish and an eyesore.

 

They were clearly very serious, @RailWest . But the thing I take from the (very carefully worded) recommendation is not that ENPA is anti-railway, but that they opposed this particular scheme which in important ways was not a reinstatement of the old line (there was never a station at CFL; there was never a run-around loop at CFL meaning that the cutting was widened with steeper sides; there would be a significant deviation in levels to have a 1-in-500 platform on a 1-in-40(odd) trackbed) meaning that the Planners saw the proposal as fundamentally miscast, and the Planning Committed agreed without a single vote in favour.

So the Planning Committee decision leaves the railway's reinstatement in the plan, but it looks like it needs to go from Killington Lane to OSHI in one jump. And that is predicated on having al of the land to do it - which the Trust have not prioritised.

 

One can’t help but wonder how much of this must have been apparent for some time………….

 

So the Planning Committee decision leaves the railway's reinstatement in the plan, but it looks like it needs to go from Killington Lane to OSHI in one jump. And that is predicated on having all of the land to do it, which the Trust have not prioritised.[/QUOTE]

And that is the problem, buying the trackbed should have always been the top priority for the Trust, but now they have nowhere to go, as any credibility they had has gone, and no one is going to trust them to just concentrate on land/trackbed purchase at the moment. If they are still hell bent on building an extension to nowhere.

Of course, this will have a long-term effect on the two Manning Wardles and where they will go, maybe it is time for the 762 club to be merged into the L&BR Trust as part of a much larger group restructuring process?

I think there is a serious amount of thinking required to be done by those who have some influence in the decision-making process of the trust and its subsidiaries.

 

And that is the problem, buying the trackbed should have always been the top priority for the Trust, but now they have nowhere to go, as any credibility they had has gone, and no one is going to trust them to just concentrate on land/trackbed purchase at the moment. If they are still hell bent on building an extension to nowhere.

Of course, this will have a long-term effect on the two Manning Wardles and where they will go, maybe it is time for the 762 club to be merged into the L&BR Trust as part of a much larger group restructuring process?

I think there is a serious amount of thinking required to be done by those who have some influence in the decision-making process of the trust and its subsidiaries.[/QUOTE]
The question that matters is one of outcomes, and changes in organisation structures may then follow. If we focus on those structural changes now, it will distract from the choices that matter.

 

What is stopping the railway from extending at the Woody Bay end of the line instead of from Killington Lane?

 

A range of issues, @echap

Once you get beyond the shed at Woody Bay, you've got to burrow under the A39 (expensive) and the reinstate/remediate the bridges at Martinhoe Cross in order to extend 150m. Then there's no land owned by the L&B family until you get to Dean Steep, which is after another (expensive) bridge under the A39. This then gets you to Barbrook and on the home straight to the old Lynton Station, but there are several (expensive) homes you'd need to acquire before you got to the station itself, which is privately owned by a supporter of the railway, I understand. There's no obvious place for a terminus short of Lynton that could have public access or car parking, so it's a single extension.

If it gets built, I expect Woody Bay to Lynton to be the last section reinstated for all these reasons.

 

Thanks for the explanation.