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Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development

Discussion in 'Narrow Gauge Railways' started by 50044 Exeter, Dec 25, 2009.

  1. RailWest

    RailWest Part of the furniture

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    To suggest that "If planning consents have expired, they can be re-applied for, all the paperwork is already in place" would seem to demonstrate a complete lack of understanding of what would be required of any future (re)application. It would be like me getting my car through its MoT car today, putting it in the garage for (say) 5 years, then expecting to given a fresh certificate in 2027 simply on the basis of the 2022 one - never mind that in the meantime the chassis has rusted through and all the brake hoses have perished :)
     
  2. Mark Thompson

    Mark Thompson Well-Known Member

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    Yes. That certainly was a particularly naive statement. Or plain disingenuous.
     
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  3. Mark Thompson

    Mark Thompson Well-Known Member

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    Just reading over some of the latest submissions. This one, from the owner of Fairview, really takes the biscuit:
    "In addition, the Lynton and Barnstaple railway will completely butcher the peaceful and unspoiled landscape that I and so many others enjoy. More specifically, the privacy of Fair View will be significantly and frequently interrupted by smoke, noise, and eyesores up to 16 times a day. In a time where sustainable and carbon neutral practises are at the forefront of all business decisions, how can planning permission for a coal fired steam train possibly be accepted. I would strongly suggest the planning is rejected."
    This is from someone who bought the house in the full knowledge that planning permission had already been granted for the reinstatement of the railway on track bed immediately behind their property. Perhaps they were taking a punt on it not happening?
    When this began, I had a fair degree of empathy for those, if not necessarily in Parracombe, then certainly in Churchtown. It was a genuine pause for thought. Yet the more I read of stuff like this, particularly of the cut n' paste variety, the less empathy I have. They are overplaying their hand, more and more.
    This (above) is nimbyism' of the brass-necked variety.
    Sorry, Parracombe, but you've lost my sympathy, now.
     
  4. RailWest

    RailWest Part of the furniture

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    I noted that one objector complained inter alia that the extension to Parracombe would include new bridge building that would involve road closures and construction traffic through PE. AIUI the only new bridge would be that at KL and why on earth any construction traffic would want to go through PE rather than around the by-pass baffles me. Also there would be no road closure (other than perhaps very briefly at the start) 'cos the road would be diverted onto the land at the side owned by the L&BR.

    I am becoming increasing annoyed/frustrated/despairing of objecters who either (a) have failed to read the applications properly to understand exactly what is proposed and/or (b) seem to be treating it as an opportunity to re-hash the same objections as used previously in the hope of somehow stopping the railway altogether and/or (c) simply write ever increasingly outlandish suggestions about the supposed impact. For example, if passengers currently can travel to KL and back without needing a toilet at their destination, are they so weak-bladdered that they can't manage the extra distance to PE without apparently the urge to defacate in hordes all over Churchtown?

    It seems ironic that, whilst the ENPA and many local businesses and residents in other towns and villages in the area are welcoming the potential for increased tourism and visitors, at least some of those in PE seemed determined to keep them outside the parish bounds at all costs.
     
    Last edited: Jun 11, 2022
  5. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

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    I would be less upset about those objectors, though obviously wary of their impact on politicians.

    This is why. A few years ago, I had to lead a premises licence application for my church. Working through the process beforehand, the council officers had made clear the very tight parameters the process operates under, and the limited grounds for objection that could be considered. This provoked a handful of written objections (we'd done some groundwork beforehand to avoid people being shocked), and the council officers gave those objections little credence because they didn't engage with the legal grounds that were available.

    I would tend to expect that such rehashes of previous objections, not engaging with the specifics of what is being proposed here, will generate a similar level of respect from the officers charged with reviewing them, while providing little that would support rejection of the applications as they actually are. To (mis)quote the Bard, such objections are
    "but a walking shadow, a poor player
    That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
    And then is heard no more: it is a tale
    Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
    Signifying nothing."
     
  6. Alan Kebby

    Alan Kebby Well-Known Member

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    Out of interest, what is the additional mileage from Killington Lane to Parracombe?
     
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  7. Michael B

    Michael B Member

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    Based on Bridge locations, Bridge 65 is at 15 miles 8 1/2 chains; Bridge 61 at Churchtown just north of the halt 14 miles 38 chains. So about 50 chains. 22 yards per chain, so about 1100 yards.
     
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  8. RailWest

    RailWest Part of the furniture

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    I am sure - and indeed hope - that you are right and that the planning officers will 'see through' the more frivolous examples. My concern is that, the more that those sorts of 'facts' are written by the objectors, the more they tend to gain credence and support amongst other local people, so the harder it will be to gain any 'local support' if/when the construction gets under way.
     
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  9. simon

    simon Resident of Nat Pres

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    Am I right in thinking Fairview was bought by the railway company and then sold on less the land needed for the railway?
     
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  10. Alan Kebby

    Alan Kebby Well-Known Member

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    Yes you are correct.

    Absolutely ridiculous. If the reopening of the railway is such an issue to this person, then why on earth did they buy this house. They bought it with full knowledge of the reopening plans.

    Even the sales particulars from the time mention the ‘proposed railway line’, and the conveyancer would have researched the full details and advised the buyer accordingly.


    https://media.onthemarket.com/properties/5043743/871184790/document-0.pdf
     
    Last edited: Jun 10, 2022
  11. Mark Thompson

    Mark Thompson Well-Known Member

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    Correct. It has since been sold on again, but with the necessary caveats now unavoidably attached.
     
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  12. simon

    simon Resident of Nat Pres

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    Thanks, both. I thought as much.
     
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  13. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

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    Fair comment. Personally, and I think back to the experience I related and a planning issue near my late grandparents house, I think much of the issue is in the anticipation and that, once decisions are made, opposition will fade as accommodation has to be made.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
  14. johnofwessex

    johnofwessex Resident of Nat Pres

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    I used to own a house with an interesting history, built for Westbury Ironworks next to the quarry at Upper Vobster and its last 'pre private ownership' owner was the quarry company.

    In the deeds was a covenant stating that any owner was not to object to any planning application made by the quarry company.

    I am not sure to what extent it was enforceable but it was there.
     
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  15. Meiriongwril

    Meiriongwril Member

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    Have any recent TWAOs for heritage lines been issued with CP powers (e.g. last 10 years)? I know that the Rother Valley is awaiting a decision on such an application. I wonder how likely it will be that the L&B get such unmentionable powers? I recall a post on here many months back saying it was very unlikely.
    In these circumstances progress beyond Parracombe Halt is impossible. I do hope a plan B is in the works if there are no powers. As hardly any land is owned towards Caffyns and Lynton, one supposes any Plan B would operate over EA owned land and WB to KL mothballed ( as was discussed recently). Let's hope in this case that relations between the Trust and EA are good - perhaps less likely these days since EA appointed as a Director someone who is known not to be on good terms with the L&B Trust hierarchy.
     
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  16. Biermeister

    Biermeister Member

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    Posters to this page refer to the good people of Parracombe being opposed to the railway development. Two things strike me here. Firstly, how many of these good people actually do oppose the railway reinstatement? Secondly, what is the L&BR Trust doing about smoothing the progress of its revised application(s) with particular regard to Parracombe? To clarify matters, reduce misinformation and broaden education locally, I would suggest a straightforward questionnaire be prepared with accompanying educational information and hand delivered to every dwelling and business within Churchtown and Parracombe. The questionnaire could be completed on the doorstep with a follow-up visit. This could be the work for a 'working bee' at Parracombe. Obviously the known contentious addresses should be visited by at least two carefully selected persons with good communication skills... In this way, the Trust might better be able to pilot its way through the mire which, with one notable exception, seems to be largely of its own making.
    It is perhaps fortunate that Parracombe is the only notable settlement through which the railway passes between Barnstaple and Lynton: it must be successfully negotiated.
     
  17. RailWest

    RailWest Part of the furniture

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    >>>This could be the work for a 'working bee' at Parracombe....

    I believe at least one Trustee lives in/near Parracombe...:)
     
  18. Mark Thompson

    Mark Thompson Well-Known Member

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    Out, brief candle.
     
    Last edited: Jun 11, 2022
  19. Gadams

    Gadams New Member

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    Recently joined this forum and have been a fan of the L&B for many years and have always wanted to see the extension to the line come to fruition. But, after reading through some of the posts my blood is boiling already!!


    How can the new owner of Fairview have the cheek to object to the railway extension? It’s an absolute joke! It was made quite clear by the estate agent that the railway would be reinstated. It’s true, as I know the estate agent who sold it and they had to make that clear to all viewers and it was also mentioned in the auction pack. I just don’t understand why he bought it. Apparently he has no interest in the railway whatsoever, so why would you buy a house so close to it?! He is a wealthy guy, an airline pilot from the Essex coast who uses Fairview as his holiday bolthole. He could easily have afforded one of the other numerous properties for sale at that time that aren’t near the railway, so why did he feel the need to buy the cheapest possible house at that time? Just £211,000 he paid for it. The house now looks appalling since it’s been “done-up” or should I say “Essexed-up”! It seems that some of the building materials used on the house quite possibly don’t meet the relevant rules/guidelines on what you can and can’t do in a conservation area/national park. I hope someone will follow that up and check it out, would serve him right. I’ve heard he isn’t very popular with everyone in the village and I’m not surprised to be honest.The railway should never had sold it in the first place and then this wouldn’t be happening. Of course it was sold for financial reasons, they did quite well out of it. Sadly, it was the last owner who lost a fortune on the place, I felt sorry for him for what happened.


    Ironically I know someone who was desperate to buy Fairview. They wanted to turn into into a possible B&B and/or a tearoom. They said they would have loved to have worked with the railway with both their plans and would have allowed railway volunteers to continue using Fairview’s driveway for parking on during track works etc, just like the previous owner did. It didn’t happen because it was put up for auction just as Covid hit and they would have been happy to pay the £280,000 it was up for. They were unable to ever view it because of the lockdown Covid travel restrictions and they missed the first two auction attempts where it didn’t sell. Unfortunately they put their money into something else just before the price was slashed for the third auction attempt. Such a shame.


    I know some will probably moan with what I’ve said here but it makes me mad that people like this may cause problems/delays with the railways progress which so easily could have been avoided.
     
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  20. Alan Kebby

    Alan Kebby Well-Known Member

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    So a he’s a second home owner, bought the house in full knowledge of the planning permission already granted for the railway, and is re hashing old arguments to try and stop the railway altogether, rather than focussing on the specifics of the amended plans? Not sure why he wasted his time writing that objection, it will swiftly be filed in the bin by the planning inspector.

    If he doesn’t want to see the trains, tell him to build himself a 6 ft fence on his land.
     
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