Campaigners fear housing plan could scupper rail link (From Bucks Free Press)
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Campaigners fear Wooburn Green housing plan could scupper rail link
2:30pm Thursday 15th March 2012 in News By Lawrence Dunhill
Nigel Phillips, at the entrance to the site on Wycombe Lane
RAIL campaigners fear a building plan for 26 homes will threaten a future train link between Wycombe and Maidenhead.
Henry Homes Ltd has submitted proposals to build the homes behind 33 - 125 Wycombe Lane, in Wooburn Green, on land around the old railway line between the towns.
Much of the old route is undeveloped and various organisations, including Wycombe Society, have been campaigning for the rail link to be restored.
Last week a Government minister spoke of reopening rail links closed during the ‘Beeching Axe’ in the 1960s.
Iain Taylor, agent for the developer, said the plans would allow for any future revival of the railway. He said the old route would be covered by a road through the houses and this could be removed.
Wycombe District Council was "understandably adamant" that the former railway route was preserved, he added.
But Wycombe Society member Nigel Phillips believes the development could spell ‘disaster’ for a rail link.
He told the Bucks Free Press: "It would really put the costs up and I just think it’s impractical, you could have a train going right past your doorstep. The plan hasn’t been drawn up to show a railway."
There have also been calls for a cycle path along the route.
The planning application documents submitted to the council say: "The site is immediately adjacent to the Green Belt whilst the safeguarded Bourne End to High Wycombe Railway Line route runs north/south through the site.
"The road layout and building positions are such that the scheme would permit this route to be developed should (off-site) circumstances permit."
There has been a "a history of failed attempts to redevelop some or all of the land in question", but the site has been recognised "as being suitable for comprehensive residential redevelopment", the documents add.
Several residents along Wycombe Lane have objected to the scheme, which would include three blocks of flats and 12 semi-detached houses. Number 51 Wycombe Lane would also be demolished.
For more details on the plans see related links.
Comments(9)
OllieNewbury
says...
3:11pm Thu 15 Mar 12
Windsorian wrote:I wish that could happen!
Under the original Crossrail proposals there would be a 4tph (trains per hour) service terminating at Maidenhead. However, in July last year Network Rail published their London & SE RUS proposing that up to 4 tph should proceed from T5 Heathrow to the GWML and Reading via a northern WRAtH (Western Rail Access to Heathrow).
As it's unlikely that Slough, Maidenhead & Reading require more than a 6 tph service (i.e. a Crossrail train every 10 minutes), could a 2 tph Crossrail service from Maidenhead, via Bourne End to High Wycombe provide the missing Chiltern Line connection ?
SxSn
says...
7:31pm Thu 15 Mar 12
Our best bet is a Cambridge-like busway along the track bed. This is cheaper to build, more flexible, open to be operated more frequently with more stations and the above pitfalls no longer matter. But still with the benefit of not having to follow roads like a railway.
Crossrail does mean that once in Maidenhead the train would have to terminate and probably won't have a platform. But a bus can extend at either end to a final ultimate destination with a central core along the old rail line.
Now that is something I can see being built in my lifetime!
ImpeturbableLawrence
says...
8:17pm Thu 15 Mar 12
SxSn wrote:That makes a lot of sense.
But whilst most of the route is undeveloped, some is, so this won't ever happen anyway. Not least in Bourne End directly across from the station, but also off Gordon Road where the new flats have been built and the bridge demolished.
Our best bet is a Cambridge-like busway along the track bed. This is cheaper to build, more flexible, open to be operated more frequently with more stations and the above pitfalls no longer matter. But still with the benefit of not having to follow roads like a railway.
Crossrail does mean that once in Maidenhead the train would have to terminate and probably won't have a platform. But a bus can extend at either end to a final ultimate destination with a central core along the old rail line.
Now that is something I can see being built in my lifetime!
JOHNHEALY
says...
10:28pm Thu 15 Mar 12
J B Blackett
says...
12:59am Fri 16 Mar 12
JOHNHEALY wrote:I suggest you dig back in history and find out the real reasons for the closure of all the lines during Dr Beechings time.
The Bourne End to High Wycombe railway closed for a reason ie lack of patronage and this would be as true today as it was then. Thus, there is no point in reopening it especially with the high costs of doing so.
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It was a political decision by the Tory Party based on the fact they planned to sell off all the British Rail assets as soon as they got into a position to do so.
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The social and monetary costs were of secondary importance to them ; that's one of the reasons they apointed Beeching whose background was physics and armaments - not economics or transport. .
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He did as he was told by the short-sighted prejudiced politicians who appointed him.
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A line was drawn on the list and only the most profitable routes were retained - to be sold off to friends and associates at a later date. Look who ended up on all the rail boards subsequently.
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What an unholy mess was created - and all for a handful of silver for a few untrustworthy politicians and there friends. Subsequent generations have now had to somehow cope with now very expensive unintegrated inadequate transport systems.
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Do not believe these politicians - then or now. There are always hidden agendas.
J B Blackett
says...
1:02am Fri 16 Mar 12
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What's going to stop it doing that ?
JOHNHEALY
says...
1:52pm Sat 17 Mar 12
Windsorian
says...
10:57am Sun 18 Mar 12
All of this is against a background of the railways carrying the largest number of passengerrs since the 1920's, and a massive investment designed to get people out of their cars and onto low CO2 / NOx electric trains (at point of use).
In my opinion, if we want to keep the line open, then it must have a worthwhile future and all options must be explored. This would include re-opening the link to High Wycombe and re-evaluating the locations of all stations along the route to ensure they are relevant to modern development.
To be truthful, simply saying that Beeching closed the line and it must stay closed - is just plain defeatest. Particularly as up and down the country closed stations and lines are today being re-evaluated and wherever possible being re-opened.
Windsorian says...
2:58pm Thu 15 Mar 12
As it's unlikely that Slough, Maidenhead & Reading require more than a 6 tph service (i.e. a Crossrail train every 10 minutes), could a 2 tph Crossrail service from Maidenhead, via Bourne End to High Wycombe provide the missing Chiltern Line connection ?