Campaign for Tavistock reopening

[whole diary]

[trainbuff]

This is fantastic news. Better than I hoped for!

[34104]

Just received an e mail from Bovis homes,they are holding an exhibition in the Bedford Hotel in Tavistock on Friday 22nd February,open from 1300 hrs until 2000hrs. The exhibition is to outline their plans for the housing development in conjunction with the rebuilding of the railway,outline planning application is being made later this year,may be worth a look for anyone interested. They are also opening a website after the exhibition in which comments and opinions can be passed on to Bovis - www.bovishomes.co.uk/tavistock. They can also be e mailed at tavistock@bovishomes.co.uk.



Edit note: Punctuation amended slightly to allow hyperlink to work. CfN.

Only had time to pop in very briefy on Friday but managed to ascertain that Bovis are hoping to start actually building towards the end of this year but that the house building will not necessarily parallel the rebuilding of the railway in timescale.The chap that i spoke to also made an interesting comment about funding of the railway-not all of this is to come from the sale of the houses-some will need to come from other sources,although he couldn't specify what those sources were.I was under the impression that public utterances from DCC^» (Devon County Council - website) so far have stated that all funding was to come from the sale of the houses but i could be wrong,not unknown for a bit of u-turning to occur in these matters though.I think the website has gone live for perusal and comments now.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From Tavistock People:

What do you think about trains coming to Tavistock?

What do you think about trains coming to Tavistock? As plans to revive the old line from Tavistock to Plymouth become more defined, we open up the debate on Tavistock People with three questions for residents to consider^

For years there has been discussion about re-opening the railway line between Tavistock and Bere Alston. Axed by Dr Beeching on 5 May 1968, a recent engineering assessment has revealed that the 5.5 mile route ^ including bridges and tunnels ^ remains in sound condition.

It's been proposed that a new single-track railway would be built to link Tavistock to Bere Alston, plus a new cycleway and footpath from Tavistock to the Bere peninsula.

Some strengthening work of the original cuttings and embankments may be required to update them for modern rail use. In addition a new station in the town's Callington Road area would be built and the existing station at Bere Alston would be upgraded.

If the railway was reinstated, it would give a direct service between Tavistock and Plymouth.

Reopening the line could greatly improve travelling options for residents, commuters and businesses as well as linking Tavistock and West Devon with the national rail network. It could also reduce traffic on the busy A386 Tavistock to Plymouth road.

But the line could come at a cost, depending on your viewpoint. The project would largely be funded by national house builder Bovis Homes, which plans to develop a mixture of 750 new homes, employment units, open space and other community facilities to the south and south west of Tavistock. The reopened rail link is seen as playing a key role in supporting new development in the town.

Consultation ^ between Devon County Council, Kilbride Community Rail, West Devon Borough Council, Network Rail and Bovis Homes ^ is ongoing. DCC^» (Devon County Council - website) recently helped to keep things on track for the public by holding four information meetings at the end of January along with a recent exhibition at Tavistock's Bedford Hotel.

Before the railway can be developed, DCC says it needs to apply to the Government for a public enquiry. If that goes ahead, it could be in 2014. If the necessary powers are obtained, construction could begin in 2016.

But does Tavistock want the railway to return? Tavistock People put three questions to some local residents of different ages. Here's what they said to the first of our questions...

What do you think about trains coming to Tavistock?

[paul7575]

From Tavistock People:

Some strengthening work of the original cuttings and embankments may be required to update them for modern rail use. In addition a new station in the town's Callington Road area would be built and the existing station at Bere Alston would be upgraded.

That seems a good idea.  Reopening the line without a station would be quite an achievement...

Paul

[Plymboi]

Christ there are some NIMBYS in tavistock ain't there. One comment " it will ruin our town" is utter garbage some people are really strange to be fair.


Also I agree with this " they will probably back out" as soon as they build the homes. I completely agree, they should make sure they are built in tandem.

[Chris from Nailsea]

... there are some NIMBYS in tavistock ain't there. One comment " it will ruin our town" is utter garbage some people are really strange to be fair.

Thanks for reading those comments on that Tavistock People article and quoting them here, Plymboi: I was rather reluctant to appear to be taking sides, if I did so myself. 

However, I think it does make an interesting comparison with, just for example, Portishead - where the whole town appears to have been clamouring for the reopening of the line ever since its closure ... 

[ellendune]

Is it the railway they are objecting to or the 750 houses?

[trainbuff]

Is it the railway they are objecting to or the 750 houses?

I guess from the replies it seems that people are objecting more to the Houses than the railway. Maybe they are worried that the value of their homes will reduce. As for Bovis backing out, they only hhave the homes to build. Killbride have responsibility for reinstating the railway and they must surely have made the sale of land to Bovis as a Conditional sale on a certain level of funding I would assume.....

[swrural]

If you know all what follows, my excuses, but what matters is:
 
a) what's in the Development Plan (which includes all Plans of relevance for the area, chiefly the Local Plan) and

b) extant irrevocable planning consents and the S106 conditions and other conditions attached to them that made the re-building of the railway a pre.

Who owns the land that enjoys the consents does not matter.

Neither does it matter a hoot what some protesters think, but the consultation processes have to be gone through, just to avoid one of them going to JR in order to claim that they were not gone through.

In other words, a ticking the box exercise is being carried out.

[TonyK]

Seems to me that without the houses, the railway will be much more difficult to achieve, but those houses, and all the others in Tavvy will increase in value. The benefit of a railway station has been measured elsewhere.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From Tavistock People:

Would reinstating the rail link be a good or a bad thing for Tavistock?

Would reinstating the rail link be a good or a bad thing for Tavistock? We continue our debate on Tavistock People, with the second of three questions put to Tavistock residents^

For years there has been discussion about re-opening the railway line between Tavistock and Bere Alston, giving a direct service between Tavistock and Plymouth.

Axed by Dr Beeching on 5 May 1968, the route remains in sound condition, although some strengthening of original cuttings and embankments may be required to update them for modern rail use.

If the railway was reinstated, it could improve travelling options for residents, commuters and businesses as well as reducing traffic on the busy A386 Tavistock to Plymouth road.

But the line could come at a cost. The project would largely be funded by national house builder Bovis Homes, who plan to develop 750 new homes to the south and south west of Tavistock.

Consultation ^ between Devon County Council, Kilbride Community Rail, West Devon Borough Council, Network Rail and Bovis Homes ^ is ongoing. There could be a public enquiry in 2014, and, if the necessary powers are obtained, construction could begin in 2016.

But does Tavistock want the railway to return? Tavistock People put three questions to some local residents of different ages. Here's how they replied to our second question^

Would reinstating the rail link be a good or a bad thing for Tavistock?

[34104]

Update from the Kilbride website;

http://www.kilbridegroup.com/docs/view_news.asp?nid=52

[Plymboi]

Beeching report on tavistock and its reopening video

http://www.itv.com/news/2013-03-27/campaigners-want-train-line-axed-by-report-reopened/

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

Anyone else read that itv headline as 'campaigners want railway axed' 

[Chris from Nailsea]

Also, very well said, RichardB, in that video report.