Southwold Railway

We did try - very hard. no response from

We did try - hard - but had no response from BnaM despite many people trying. So we had to look again - hence the Ruston. James

 

Right of Way on the trackbed has been granted. However, if there are enough complaints, then it has to be referred to the planning authorities for final decision. Details in the LMM segment

Our most valid argument, I believe, is that we are granted full planning permission for an operational railway in 2024, and two sidings then and now cross the imtended PROW: we have run a passenger train there (and many goods trains), and in 2025 were recognised and listed by ORR as a UK Operational Railway. This a PROW cannot be imposed later over the track, as there is a fundamental contradiction, and ORR, as a national body, trumps any purely local designations. And - we were there first! So please help us not be stifled at birth, but submitting objections as soon as you are avble - it is life or death for us. Thanks James

 

Can you provide the sample letter and email address of the council as an attachment to the thread?
I'm happy to object.

 

If you open the video in YouTube, all the URLs you need are in the description.

 

Blythburgh Parish Council (‘BPC’) has applied for a Public Right of Way along the footpath from the A12 to another footpath, Church Path. Its legal status until the application was made was a Permissive Footpath, whereby the landowner permitted members of the public to use the footpath. The section from the station to Church Path is along the trackbed of the Southwold Railway. The new public footpath will be 3 metres wide. We opposed BPC’s application vehemently because we had intended to extend our railway to Church Path. At the Committee Meeting mentioned below, inter alia, we submitted to the Committee that the Parish Council had only made the application to thwart our plan to extend our railway to Church Path. The hearing was recorded by SCC and is on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/live/m3uSoIDQiRA?si=Bg5qFs_EvWt0-Q1a
The decision to grant BPC’s application was taken by Suffolk County Council on 3rd February at a meeting of its Development and Regulation Committee in Ipswich, when the Committee considered the evidence before it. Its decision was made after it had heard submissions by the representatives of Blythburgh Parish Council and us (HSNGR). The Committee decided unanimously to grant BPC’s application and the Public Right of Way Modification Order was made by SCC on 11th February 2026. The Order has yet to be confirmed and part of the procedure, before it can be confirmed, is for it to be advertised on site and in a newspaper, in this case the East Anglian Daily Times. Please see the photographs of the Order on our site. Objections can be made in writing at the address shown on the Notice. No email address is mentioned on the notice but we have found an email address and it is prow.east@suffolk.gov.uk. We presume that objections by email will be accepted by SCC, since such communications would be “in writing” but if you wish to object by email, we advise that you should first check with SCC.

 

I found the following https://www.suffolk.gov.uk/asset-library/definitive-maps/DMMOs/co668.pdf

 

That would imply that email objections would not be accepted

 

In my experience of crossings on the big railway, a PROW can be imposed across an operational railway. I won't go into the specifics but the process can be quite perverse especially when the next step is an extinguishment order!