Downing Street Petition

langsett said:

Hi

Please support the new petition on the Downing Street web site to
protect old rail lines from developers.

In the rail White paper the Govt declined to put a national protection
on them , leaving it to local councils.

What if one council doesn't want to and you have ridden up a nice
Greenway and come to a dead end.

Integrated Transport Policy, where?

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/old-rail-lines/

TBH I don't like the bit that says:

Quoted message said:

To provide for their re use as rail lines should circumstances permit.

IF the line is already a successful cycle facility then this gives an
excuse to grab it back.

langsett said:

Hi

Please support the new petition on the Downing Street web site to
protect old rail lines from developers.

In the rail White paper the Govt declined to put a national protection
on them , leaving it to local councils.

What if one council doesn't want to and you have ridden up a nice
Greenway and come to a dead end.

Integrated Transport Policy, where?

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/old-rail-lines/

Good idea, but 40 years too late. A lot have already been built over.
I understand that some parts of the US have this protection though.

Martyn Bolt said:

Quoted message said:

TBH I don't like the bit that says:

Quoted message said:

To provide for their re use as rail lines should circumstances permit.

IF the line is already a successful cycle facility then this gives an
excuse to grab it back.

If ever anyone starts investing that kind of money in rail travel
then I think we'd all be happier.

certinaly having more lines to spread the load wouldn't be a bad idea at
all, certinaly in the areas that trains either don't have the reach or
are overloaded.

Quoted message said:

If it encourages rail buffs to support the retention and protection
then great?

true though depending on age/area maybe well be a bit fanciful. ie to
repair may well cost more than making a new line.

roger
--
www.rogermerriman.com

langsett said:

Please support the new petition on the Downing Street web site to
protect old rail lines from developers.

In the rail White paper the Govt declined to put a national protection
on them , leaving it to local councils.

I might be wrong, but I'm sure I've heard people quoting some
'national policy' which states that old railway trackbeds shouldn't be
built on, it might have been over in uk.railway.

I got the impression the policy is primarily in case the railway link
ever needs to be reinstated in the future but using it as a cycle
route would be a good interim use and you may be able to run the cycle
route and rail line along the same corridor in the future.

The other good thing about some old railway lines is that they used to
run between places so provide a useful, reasonably direct route
between places. (The Tonge-Derby route springs to mind)

peter

naked_draughtsman said the following on 23/01/2008 22:41:

Quoted message said:

I might be wrong, but I'm sure I've heard people quoting some
'national policy' which states that old railway trackbeds shouldn't be
built on, it might have been over in uk.railway.

I also thought that, but if it is policy then it's ignored. For
instance, one of the obstacles preventing the old Weston, Clevedon &
Portishead Railway from being turned into a cyclepath and so providing
the only direct link[1] between the three towns is that it has partly
been built on.

[1] - the M5 doesn't count if you're a cyclist!

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

Paul Boyd usenet.is.worse@plusnet said:

I also thought that, but if it is policy then it's ignored. For
instance, one of the obstacles preventing the old Weston, Clevedon &
Portishead Railway from being turned into a cyclepath and so providing
the only direct link[1] between the three towns is that it has partly
been built on.

But if the line closed in 1970 and this policy wasn't dreamed up until
1990 you can't blame planners as much if the building was built in
1980....

Local authorities may well be ignoring any national policy (if it does
exist) - they may not be aware of it!

There was some fuss made when Wrexham county council marked part of an
old trackbed for development in their local development plan - the
locals wanted it used as a footpath.
The council even has a cycling policy which says (along with lots of
other things which the council and developers have completely
ignored!) that old railway lines should be preserved for cycle routes
but even though there's so many which are mostly intact we still don't
have any such cycle lanes around here.

peter

naked_draughtsman said the following on 24/01/2008 18:40:

Quoted message said:

But if the line closed in 1970 and this policy wasn't dreamed up until
1990 you can't blame planners as much if the building was built in
1980....

I think the line closed around 1940 :-) I dunno, lack of forward
planning. Anyone would think they had something on their minds at that
time!

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/