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Government petition - preserving old trackbeds

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muddythefish

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Please consider signing this petition to prevent anymore old trackbeds from being built on thus preventing any likelihood of a line being reopened.

As railway supporters, this petition is worthy of our support. Can you also please circulate it as widely as possible.

Click this link to sign the petition "Provide protection for closed railway track-beds to aid rural regeneration."

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/105077
 
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canadawater

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Please consider signing this petition to prevent anymore old trackbeds from being built on thus preventing any likelihood of a line being reopened.

As railway supporters, this petition is worthy of our support. Can you also please circulate it as widely as possible.

Click this link to sign the petition "Provide protection for closed railway track-beds to aid rural regeneration."

https://petition.parliament.uk/signatur ... mzM6nYOcr6

I've tried the link but it doesn't work:| maybe those random letters at the end should be part of the url?
 

341o2

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17 Oct 2011
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1,899
also signed. seems to work ok re above comments no problems

In my dreams Okehampton - Bude reoopened, but in reality with station sites at Bude, Holsworthy and Halwill developed....in my dreams
 

Skimpot flyer

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Signed. Now 2100 signatures!

I don't know why there was never legislation to prevent the line of closed routes being protected. Do politicians never have the brains to see that circumstances may change, and that to allow building on any part of a former route potentially closes-off any possibility of a re-opening? Short-term fools :roll:
 

colchesterken

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2101 should have done this years ago..you never know what the future holds. Look at the east - west link and the problems at bedford
 

Gwenllian2001

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Maesteg
Signed. Now 2100 signatures!

I don't know why there was never legislation to prevent the line of closed routes being protected. Do politicians never have the brains to see that circumstances may change, and that to allow building on any part of a former route potentially closes-off any possibility of a re-opening? Short-term fools :roll:

There was a clause in the 1962 Transport Act that did just that for lines considered to be of possible strategic value.
 

HH

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2148. Many old railways would be very busy now if they were still in operation. I know the one that used to run to my town would by the number of people I see driving to stations 10-15 miles away every day.
 

Kingsbury Jn.

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Signed (2129). Many trackbed and station redevelopments were designed to prevent re-openings. I'm inclined to think that many closures were developer-led, rather than due to a lack of custom. The Beeching line surveys being held on a February half-term holiday skewed the results for many rural lines.
 

Western Lord

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This is about fifty years too late. I would imagine that almost all old trackbeds have been redeveloped at some point in their length. The stretches that haven't are in open countryside and unlikely to be developed.
 

WatcherZero

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Its a nice idea, but aren't all the old trackbeds and control over whether or not they are built on or protected now in the hands of local councils not central government.
 

Bald Rick

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Its a nice idea, but aren't all the old trackbeds and control over whether or not they are built on or protected now in the hands of local councils not central government.

I think the point is to legislate such that councils are not permitted to grant planning permission for buildings on old track beds.

But where do you draw the line?

Any old track bed? Including those that have sections that are irretrievably lost like Bedford - Sandy? What about old track beds that have been replaced by more direct lines, eg in Lincoln? What about those in the middle of nowhere eg Bottesford to Melton Mowbray? What about those in towns / cities that is already well served by rail where the proposed construction is something the entire community wants, eg a hospital?

And who decides where to draw the line?

Completely impractical. I'd rather councils protect land from development in places where there is a realistic prospect of rail expansion, including alongside existing lines. Which is something they manifestly fail to do in many places now, indeed in certain areas actively obstruct potential rail expansion.
 

muddythefish

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Signed. Now 2100 signatures!

I don't know why there was never legislation to prevent the line of closed routes being protected. Do politicians never have the brains to see that circumstances may change, and that to allow building on any part of a former route potentially closes-off any possibility of a re-opening? Short-term fools :roll:

Trackbeds were sold off deliberately under orders from Whitehall so the lines could never be reopened. You have to realise that even now, with rail passenger growth continuing to set new records year on year, there are still vested interests in the Transport dept that resents all rail spending and would prefer to see continued expansion of the road network.
 

Bald Rick

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You have to realise that even now, with rail passenger growth continuing to set new records year on year, there are still vested interests in the Transport dept that resents all rail spending and would prefer to see continued expansion of the road network.

Evidence? For the past 15 years it has been quite the opposite.
 

muddythefish

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Evidence? For the past 15 years it has been quite the opposite.

The £15bn (yes, £15bn) roads programme announced before the election (it hasn't been "paused") - and the evidence in my area of huge roads improvement schemes, and not one single rail.
 

Bald Rick

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The £15bn (yes, £15bn) roads programme announced before the election (it hasn't been "paused") - and the evidence in my area of huge roads improvement schemes, and not one single rail.

Compared to £30bn odd rail programme, plus HS2, plus Crossrail...
 

WatcherZero

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Yes but as the CBT say, that's only if you assume the £13bn available in local growth fund and transport grants is solely spent on road schemes.
 
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