| Greenways - Uckfield to Lewes differences of view looking forward and wider Posted by grahame at 09:11, 24th September 2026 |     |
Greenways sound lovely and they can really bring life and benefit to an area, and abandoned railway lines are in many ways their obvious paths. And yet the installation of a path along an abandoned railway track is a step towards making that old route a "never again" rail corridor.
Times have changed since the 1960s - the peak period for railway lines and tracks to be eliminated. It's no longer a joke to suggest that tracks might be relayed and trains run again, or indeed that closures in the 60 years since that peak where lines have fallen in to disrepair and perhaps key infrasturcture has become unusable could once again see a flow of passengers on rail. But yet - to this day - some old sections will, surely, never see a train again.
There is a conflict. Here's an example from the Sussex Express
Lewes to Uckfield Greenway: "This Greenway will eradicate all chances of the railway ever re-opening," campaigners say
Objectors to the 'Greenway' project say they are concerned people are unaware of 'what is really going on behind their backs.'
Their comments came as Wealden District Council (WDC) formally approved £558,000 of Community Infrastructure Levy funding to help pay for a pedestrian and cycle bridge over the River Ouse between Lewes and Hamsey. This would prove a key element to the creation of a Greenway along the former Lewes-Uckfield rail line.
[snip]
A Wealden District Council spokesperson says the new bridge would provide a safe, all-weather walking and cycling connection between Lewes and Hamsey, 'offering a greener and healthier alternative to travelling on busy local roads.' It would also improve access to the South Downs National Park.
Earlier this year Lewes District Council (LDC) approved an in-principle commitment of exactly the same sum, subject to planning permission and match funding from project partners.
Cllr Laurence O'Connor. planning cabinet member for LDC, said he was delighted that WDC had approved the funding contribution 'marking another important milestone for this project.' "By creating a dedicated walking and cycling route between Lewes and Hamsey we are supporting healthier lifestyles and better connecting rural communities with employment, education and services in Lewes."
[snip]
Brian Hart who leads the BML2 Campaign said: "As well as submitting our formal objection to WDC Planning, we've written to the SDNPA who had assured us of their support for protecting the trackbed. This is becoming a hotly debated political issue and we want to make people aware of what is really going on. They are kept in the dark.
"We believe this is deception on the part of WDC officers who are asserting, according to a piece in last week's Sussex Express, that 'the proposed route can be accommodated without prejudicing potential future railway reinstatement.' This is wholly untrue. Should this Greenway ever be built as they plan, then it will eradicate all chances of the railway ever re-opening, as they well know."
Objectors to the 'Greenway' project say they are concerned people are unaware of 'what is really going on behind their backs.'
Their comments came as Wealden District Council (WDC) formally approved £558,000 of Community Infrastructure Levy funding to help pay for a pedestrian and cycle bridge over the River Ouse between Lewes and Hamsey. This would prove a key element to the creation of a Greenway along the former Lewes-Uckfield rail line.
[snip]
A Wealden District Council spokesperson says the new bridge would provide a safe, all-weather walking and cycling connection between Lewes and Hamsey, 'offering a greener and healthier alternative to travelling on busy local roads.' It would also improve access to the South Downs National Park.
Earlier this year Lewes District Council (LDC) approved an in-principle commitment of exactly the same sum, subject to planning permission and match funding from project partners.
Cllr Laurence O'Connor. planning cabinet member for LDC, said he was delighted that WDC had approved the funding contribution 'marking another important milestone for this project.' "By creating a dedicated walking and cycling route between Lewes and Hamsey we are supporting healthier lifestyles and better connecting rural communities with employment, education and services in Lewes."
[snip]
Brian Hart who leads the BML2 Campaign said: "As well as submitting our formal objection to WDC Planning, we've written to the SDNPA who had assured us of their support for protecting the trackbed. This is becoming a hotly debated political issue and we want to make people aware of what is really going on. They are kept in the dark.
"We believe this is deception on the part of WDC officers who are asserting, according to a piece in last week's Sussex Express, that 'the proposed route can be accommodated without prejudicing potential future railway reinstatement.' This is wholly untrue. Should this Greenway ever be built as they plan, then it will eradicate all chances of the railway ever re-opening, as they well know."
I don't know the answer on this particular case. I am aware of several Irish examples ongoing - Rosslare Strand to Waterford which was a late opening railway and with long straight sections through cuttinge that would be a really boring walk, and from RTE to the West of Ireland
Iarnród Éireann has given the green light to a lease arrangement for the Sligo Greenway, almost two years after it said it could not support the project along a disused rail line.
Sligo County Council is seeking to develop a 35km trail on a section of the Western Rail Corridor, from Collooney to Bellaghy, an Iarnród Éireann-owned route that closed to passengers in 1963, and to freight in 1975.
The Sligo Greenway plan, first mooted in 2014, was in its third public consultation in December 2024 when Iarnród Éireann (Irish Rail) said it could not support the preferred route.
Sligo County Council is seeking to develop a 35km trail on a section of the Western Rail Corridor, from Collooney to Bellaghy, an Iarnród Éireann-owned route that closed to passengers in 1963, and to freight in 1975.
The Sligo Greenway plan, first mooted in 2014, was in its third public consultation in December 2024 when Iarnród Éireann (Irish Rail) said it could not support the preferred route.
All three of these examples pit local / regional interests against wider area ones, and also show the conflicts between going greener-by-walking and greener-by-better-transport. I would love to see all three of these railways re-opening, however, that may be the heart over the head.
I mused as I changed trains at East Grinstead the other weekend and carried on to Sheffield Park at the lovely countryside the train was passing through, the economic possibilities for a new community or two along there with Croydon and London commuting possibilites, and the prospect of extending from Sheffield Park back to Lewes. And that's a line closed well over the 60 years ago, and in part ripped up, filled in, dug back out and restored into (heritage) use. I'm not suggesting re-opening to restore old-time traffic flows - I am looking to make a use of the natural corridor for useful current and future flows. From Horsted Keynes to Falmer for the University. From Brighton to Sheffield Park for visitors to the gardens and The Weald there. From West Hoathly to London, 2 or 3 days a week, for commuters living in that new town. And from many, many placed to the steam and heritage diesel trains still running off peak on the Bluebell.
More locally to where I live, the old Chippenham to Calne branch has become a "Greenway" and the bridge on it over the A4 arches to add height and would be something of an obstacle in restoring. I'm not sure of the condition of the viaduct over the Avon, and the site of Calne station was erased for a business estate which in itself was then erased for houring. But yet a rail service Calne to Chippenham and onwards (via Corsham and Box or via Melksham and Bradford-on-Avon) to Bath and Bristol might make huge sense.
The Bristol and Bath path - shares - its right of way with the heritage railway, single track where it used to be double. Into the suburbs of Bristol it has become very busy indeed, but yet a rail solution inbound from, say, Mangotsfield woukd make a huge difference to the city, and a rail link from that to the line to Westerleigh would allow a relief of the junction there.
And then ... Bath to Radstock and Shepton Mallett and perhaps Glastonbury and Wells. Trains sharing the Two Tunnels really is not on (IMHO) - that's an infrastucture that is better used for the current purposes into the far, far future, but perhaps the valley from Limpley Stoke up to Midford and Radstock could be a rail corridor once again.
Holt to Devizes then Patney and Chirton? Ah - I am wandering here, but the canal along the same corridor provides the Greenway. The railway is so burst, however, that although it was only closed in 1966 I don't see it re-opening. As a new railed public transport along the corridor? Guided Busway? Tram? I will be told, I'm sure, that I must be mad. But then I have been told that before and strange things have happened.
