Latest happenings on the Folkestone Harbour Branch

Hi i thought i would just update everyone with the lastest, now this is my own posting and might not be the official stance of the RLA and should not be taken as such

We now have a sales/ information stand in the middle of Folkestones shopping area and are there now most Saturdays thoughout the season and because of that and a leafleting drive we have increased our membership to about the 600 member mark

Talks have been held with Shepway council who voted in our favour by 36-0 on our plans
talks have been held with Folkestone town council who voted 15 in favour with 1 absention with no votes against

We were due talks with network rail again in April ,but due to the election these have been defered , the mothballing was due to end in mid April but so far no closure notice has been published , the committee of the RLA held talks with the Folkestone harbour company , but were unable to come to any agreement, the stated position of the FHC is that to allow the railway to cross their land would adversly effect the re sale value of the harbour, and because of that, they see no place for the railway, or ferries , its nothing to do with regeneration but what gives the best land re sale value, which tells you what the FHC are really about and they dispute network rails position that it take abandoning the line to render it officially closed, FHC claim that network rail have to mearly publish the closure notice

A plan for a restuarant in a conservation area in the old fish market was recently rejected by the council, this after the same company ,FHC threatened to possibly pull out if it didnt get its plans approved , a modern concrete design in a conservation area? must tell you something about what is planned for the harbour, they say we can run a parry railcar, but only as far as the viaduct, so only benifiting their own customers not the whole of folkestone