Northampton piecemeal-infill housing on or adjacent to former rail routes wanted for local rail reopening doesn't add up?

re: https://www.northantslive.news/news/northamptonshire-news/plans-build-217-homes-eye-8022251

This makes me very sad.

I guess this is what a vacuum looks like!

It will be the end of the line for any reopening east of Northampton.

We have done all we can, but some key locals have not played ball.

It is daft, but sadly we face the same pattern in Bedford.

It locks in a roads-only future for these areas and once built, very little chance of unravelling.

There's a lack of faith pervading and a sense of proportionality, yes we need housing, but we also need these rail links.

People can object and I am sure ERTA will, but sadly I feel there's an air of complacency pervading where it counts.

We are not resourced to take it all on - people or money - and could have been but for certain dynamics coming to see the best priorities.

It is not too late to object to these plans blocking the rail corridor, please email West Northants Council, local MP Andrew Lewer and the media. Does it make any sense to grow housing and yet have no public transport infrastructure? Yet this is exactly what is happening and some are greenwashing by planting trees alongside the very railway routes they refuse to entertain for reopening = goes across the political parties. This is #northampton!

A point is that some say "you can still get a rail link through" but they fail to realise that objectors west of London Road object to a rail link (exact same one!) because of noise and vibrations, so will these new residents east of London Road as well, even if you could.

Likewise some seem to be applying HS2 and LRT desk-top creativity for a 'go anywhere' rail application. They fail to take into account gradients, landscape and that LRT cannot do what heavy rail does and vice versa. They confuse the old Wellingborough line with the old Bedford line and harmogenise the two.

They are silent on getting across London Road and yet want to get over or under the A428 heading not towards Bedford, but Wellingborough! They say that you can have a link from their rail trajectory heading south for Bedford in the Irchester area, but fail to see: a. wrong side of Midland Main Line (no on-coming points for fast lines apparently) b. fail to show how they would access the slow lines/via Wymington loop.

Likewise getting to Wellingboroughitself, old route blocked many times in the Wellingborough area and their route lacks radial curvature clearance a heavy rail needs, so what about freight? They are approaching it as if it were the Croydon Tram Link! They wanted a rail link to Towcester, but did not have a new route in mind, rather old route now part of the A43 apparently? But really, councils should get a rail vision, a rail plan, a study and tailor development elsewhere to avoid conflict, even if it is greenwashed by tree planting in the same area.

Finally, the folly of cycle or scooter ways linking key places along the corridor, does not preserve the corridor, they become 'objectors' themselves and does not guarantee adequate clearances for any standrad guage railway! Think again!