Help save the trackbed of the March-Spalding rail link

-------- Forwarded Message --------

Subject:	RE: H01-0871-18 at Former Station Yard & Croft House Nursery, Mill Drove South, Cowbit
Date:	Fri, 7 Dec 2018 14:51:34 +0000
From:	Polly Harris-Gorf <pharris-gorf@sholland.gov.uk>
To:	'Simon Barber' <simon4barber@gmail.com>

Dear Mr Barber

I have received your objection and have précised this in to my report. Some of your objections seem to cover broader issues than those that could be addressed by this application and I would direct you to more strategic documents such as the emerging South East Lincolnshire Local Plan which can be viewed on the Council’s website, and the Lincs County Council Strategic Transport officers. If you wish to make representations  to these and to the Local Enterprise Partnership I suggest that this is undertaken separately of your objection to this application.

Yours sincerely

Polly Harris Gorf | Principal Planning Officer| South Holland District Council

Council Offices, Priory Road, Spalding, PE11 2XE
DDI: 01775 764504

www.sholland.gov.uk

Please note that any informal officer opinion expressed by this email is without prejudice and is not binding on the Council during the consideration of any formal application.

H01-0871-18

Comments have been received on the above application via the website and have been

transferred to Ocella.

The comments are as follows:

Consultee Name:               Simon Barber

Address:                               Flat 20, Fitzherbert House Kingsmead

Date Transferred:               7th Dec 2018

Planning Officer:                Polly Harris-Gorf

Response Type:                 Objection

________________________________________________________________ 

Comments:

I am a member of the English Regional Transport Association(ERTA),which is a voluntary membership-based,pro-public transport improvement association with its main projects initially in the Bedfordshire and surrounding regional areas but its remit has since increased since several of its projects have a nation-wide positive benefit and impact. .I am writing as a member of that organisation to mention a few concerns in relation to the above-mentioned planning application. The English Regional Transport Association has a web-site that could provide useful information: http://ertarail.com I do hereby lodge an objection to this development since these new dwellings will encourage more cars which will in turn increase the congestion on the local roads. Indeed a certain number of the new occupants could be car commuters accessing employment in Spalding or perhaps places such as Peterborough which suffers from severe traffic congestion. The site also appears to encroach the old trackbed of the March - Spalding railway line which we wish to see re-opened. I call upon the Council, Strategic Planning and Transport offices including Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) to support, study, protect lands for a reopenedMarch-Spalding rail link.See The reopened rail link will enable more paths on East Coast Main Line, freeing up Peterborough for other trains, cutting Fenland traffic and linking York and Cambridge directly as a cross country Eastern England spinal route both ways including M11/A1 rail choice for more freight by rail. See https://ertarail.com/campaigns/ Yours faithfully, Simon Barber 

Write to South Holland District Council, Priory Road, Spalding, PE11 2XE and your local MP and join ERTA and strengthen our campaign. https://ertarail.com/contact-us/

Help Save the Woodhead Line from National Grid power-line intrusions

Our delegated Executive Committee Member Mr Tony Bush gave the following report to a meeting near Sheffield recently:

Contact for further support and liaison: https://ertarail.com/contact-us/

Please write to your MP c/o House of Commons, Westminster, London, SW1A 0AA and urge them to support reopening the Woodhead Railway as a matter of urgency and to call National Grid's plan in for further scrutiny and seek alternative solutions so that the integrity of the railway route is retained for future rail reopening use for passenger and freight - taking traffic off local roads, cutting congestion, lowering emissions and giving people fast choices which cost a fraction of HS3 for example. Woodhead is not just an isolated piece of railway but would link Hull/Sheffield with Manchester/Liverpool as a North Sea-Atlantic 'land bridge' helping UK be competitive on timings, transport and logistics, cutting costs and ensuring speedy deliveries. 

Guildford-Horsham is a strategic missing rail link needing rebuilding

Dear Richard and Simon,
I thought you would welcome feedback on the Redhill meeting.
There were getting on for 40 people at the meeting.
The basic reason of the Railfure meeting was to give Network Rail's 
representative, Andrew Brown, the oppotunity to give updates on  the 
progress so far and future (closure) plans for the line south of Three 
Bridges over weekends and one 9 day blockade during the February half 
term 2019.
Andrew also gave an update on the planned improvements to the North 
Downs line to achieve 3 trains per hour.
Andrew Brown gave a very good presentation, and Railfure will be 
e-mailing me with the contents of the presentation plus the notes made 
by one of their members, which I can forward if required.
I think Railfuture is different from the ERTA in that they seem to be 
keen on getting short term improvements to the network with no longer 
term plans- certainly not for re-openings.
At the end of the presentation there was the oppotunity to ask questions.
Most questions supported my view mentioned above, in that there were 
moans about inadequate bustitution, poor connecting services, badly 
informed staff, short trains, lack of fast trains to London,- the usual 
regular rail user points of view. Andrew deflected a lot of this as the 
responsibility of the train operationg companies.
There was one question asked about Network Rail's view on the BM2 line 
and re-opening Lewes to Uckfield.
Andrew commented that the business case for BM2 had not been proved and 
the re-opening of Lewes to Ukfield represented poor value for money, so 
Network Rail were not involved in that idea at the moment. He did say 
that had that link already existed, it would make managing the Brighton 
main line upgrade a lot easier as would the Arundel curve if it existed. 
This curve would mean the train diversion would not have to go down the 
Arun valley line through Horsham to Littlehampton and the back east 
along the coastal route to Brighton.( I notice the Arundel curve is not 
listed in the 33 schemes on the re-opening pamphlet.)
When my turn came to ask a question I intoduced myself as a member of 
the ERTA and took the oppotunity to outline the aims of ERTA- especially 
improving rail transport by supporting and promoting rail re-openings. I 
said the Guildford- Horsham- Shoreham re-opening long term was one of 
the ERTA aims and said to Andrew that had it never been closed it would 
have given him a double track main line from Three Brigdes to Shorehan 
via Horsham to play with in planing the engineering closures and the 
Arundel chord would not be needed. After my short speech I thought I had 
better ask my question to Andrew which was "Why is electrification of 
the Reigate- Guildford section not part of the North Downs Line upgrade 
plan".
Andrews answer was that third rail electrification, apart from short 
sections in new depots, was considered to be a serious health and safety 
risk these days and therefore unlikely to be approved. He also said 
electricification in general was now under review due improvements in 
bi-mode and battery technology and escalating costs.
Others at the meeting chipped in with comments in support of the 
Reigate- Guildford idea and the general feeling was that it was good 
idea. The Railfuture chairman said he thought the idea made 
absolutelcommon sense, with the remark that when did common sense ever 
have an influence on rail investment decisions?
I was invited to respond to Andrew's answer but I didn't want to take up 
more time as there were several others waiting to put their questions.
However my follow on comments would have been.
1/ Vast areas of the SE and lines into the West Country and north of 
London and the Underground are already third rail so why would say 15 
miles of additional third rail swing the fatalities statistcs significantly.
2/ What actually are the fatality statistics for the last year /10 years 
and does Ian Prosser's rail saftey executive have a published report on 
third rail risks?
3/ Additional journey oppotunies would be created if the Thameslink 
service planned to Reigate (the plan is for a third  platform there to 
handle the fixed formation 12 car trains) went on to Guildford. No new 
bi-mode or battery stock would be required.
It was a good and enjoyable meeting.
After the meeting finished I was askes about what the ERTA was.
I guided those interested in finding out more the the ERTA website.
Although I had all of Richard's recent attachments with me- GCR 
re-opening, the list of 33 rail re-openings, maps of connections from 
East-West south to Heathrow etc, I felt to bring this up was not right 
for the aims of Railfuture in calling the meeting.
Went from Horsham to Redhill and back on the train. No problems. The 
return journey was my first ride on the new Thameslink 12 car rolling 
stock on the new Peterborough to Horsham service.  Warm, fast but 
undoubtably designed to shift a lot of passengers at the same time.
SteveB

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