2016

I don't know how many of you have seen the article in the current Steam Railway - but it outlines a plan for a huge event on Sunday 6 March 2016. The idea is to have S&D engines in steam at all the S&D revived stations - Midsomer Norton, Shillingstone and Midford, hopefully also Spetisbury and who knows what other sites may be under restoration in five years' time?

The best thing about this is that it is drawing the S&D groups together, something we've pushed for since day one. This is the best news I've heard for a long time!

let 'em know ...

This has come via our Planning Officer David Robbins.

I think this needs to be widely publicised.

Mendip District Council should be made aware, by as many people as possible, that Peak Oil is coming and that a transition plan is vital. The Core Strategy is their opportunity to safeguard dismantled railway lines, together with associated station sites, buildings and other lineside structures. Mendip District includes Glastonbury & Street, Polsham, Wells, West Pennard, Pylle, Evercreech, Shepton Mallet, Masbury, Binegar and Chilcompton - to name just the S&D stations.

The Council have made a start - in Policy DP12: Safeguarding Corridors for Sustainable Travel - but their wording remains very defensive and manages to avoid mentioning the S&D lines at all!
Mendip Local Development Framework

DRAFT CORE STRATEGY (Preferred Options Stage)

I am writing to inform you of the launch of our consultation period on the new planning strategy for Mendip District. Over the last two or three years various consultation activities and study work has been undertaken and we are now able to publish a full draft of the Local Development Framework Core Strategy for public views. The consultation period for the document runs for 6 weeks from 17th February to 31st March 2011.

You can access all the material via this Time to Plan page or via any good search engine by typing in “Mendip Time to Plan”

A brief summary of the proposals is available in our information leaflet which is being delivered to every household in Mendip.

This is an important document in that it sets out the amount of new development that the area will accommodate in the period to 2026, broadly where it will go, key goals for the district’s five main towns and a range of policies to manage all types of development. It responds to the evolving localism agenda being rolled out from Government and regional housing targets have been dispensed with, replaced by locally evidenced housing requirements.

This consultation period offers an opportunity to see, in full, a draft of the proposed strategy and for people from all walks of life, whether residents, workers, visitors or potential investors to provide us with views about the new proposals. Where appropriate we would also like your views on how the proposals in the document could be refined bearing in mind the issues we have to tackle and for any proposals to be soundly justified. At this stage no decisions are being made and any views you offer will inform what the final Core Strategy contains. We intend to publish a final draft in the autumn of 2011. Unresolved issues remaining after that publication will then be formally examined by a Planning Inspector during 2012 prior to any decision by the council to adopt the strategy.

During this consultation period we will also be inviting:
submission of further development sites within and around the Mendip towns and a defined list of villages for an update to our Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA).
specific comments in relation to a new rural affordable housing approach which the council wants to urgently adopt as an interim policy to stimulate more affordable homes for local people.
Specific comments on a review of Special Landscape Features in the district. The Local Plan identified a number of landscape features across the district which were valued as distinctive local landmarks or scenes. Previous consultation indicated that these should benefit from ongoing protection in the Local Development Framework. The Assessment of Special Landscape Features reviews these and considers new areas for designation.


The draft Core Strategy and a wide range of background studies, reports of consultation and explanatory papers will be available on the council website - http://www.mendip.gov.uk/ - via the “Time to Plan” links.

Copies of the documents will also be available at the Council Access Points in Frome, Glastonbury, Shepton Mallet, Street and Wells. The Planning Policy team will also be holding a number of drop in style sessions for people to come and discuss issues, ask questions and generally become better informed about what is proposed. Details of where you can view documents and meet officers are set out below.

We regret that, in the current straightened times, hard copies of the Core Strategy can only be made available at a cost of £10 each reflecting our printing costs. Other documents will also attract a similar charge.

Comments can be made until midnight on 31st March 2011 and given the need to progress work we will not be able to consider responses received after that date.

To respond you can:

complete the Online Survey at http://www.mendip.gov.uk/ via the ‘Time to Plan’ link
download a response form, complete it and return it to us via post or e-mail
write to us directly making reference to the pages and policies you are commenting on at orgdev@mendip.gov.uk or at Mendip District Council, Cannards Grave Road, Shepton Mallet BA4 5BT.

If you have any questions, please e-mail us at orgdev@mendip.gov.uk or call Mendip District Council on 01749 648999 and ask to speak to a member of the planning policy team.

We look forward to your interest in this work.


John Meeker
Planning Policy Team Leader
Organisational Development Group

MENDIP DISTRICT COUNCIL
Cannards Grave Road, Shepton Mallet, Somerset. BA4 5BT

( 01749 648999 (Customer Services)

Think of the environment...please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to.

the fall of oil

(Edington Burtle late 1960s - Steve Sainsbury collection)

With the Arab nations falling to a kind of anarchic democracy one by one there are the first mutterings of Peak Oil out there. Interestingly Peak Oil was mentioned on BBC News the other day, the first time I've heard it hit the mainstream. Somebody obviously (or deliberately) forgot the usual 'climate change' cover story. As oil fields get caught up in the maelstrom it's inevitable - even if the current difficulties are contained - that the price of oil will continue to rise but, more importantly, more and more commentators will start researching Peak Oil and the general energy crisis.

The most dreadful outcome of course will be if Saudi Arabia falls, particularly to Islamic extremists. It is going to be interesting.

It would be best for us all if the switch from oil is carefully choreographed and reasonably painless, but with most oil being in volatile parts if the world this may be a forlorn hope.

The car age is clearly coming to an end and all future talk will be about trains and trams. This is just the beginning. The changes are going to be momentous, yet most people out there don't have a clue what's going to hit them.

chilcompton sparks

Everyone's getting on the S&D train so it seems.

Coming from Hornby is this excellent train set (is it okay to call it that)? The box will show the picture of a West Country emerging from Chilcompton amidst a lineside fire. The set will contain a West Country and three ex-LMS coaches - very S&D. More here.

Sorry for the lack of posts recently - special apologies to Julian, Brian, John and David who have sent me blog material this week. I'll try to do it over the weekend. I've been having sight problems the last week or so and find it hard to work at the computer. Hopefully this is a temporary thing.

shillingstone ups its game

A lot of very good things have been coming out of Shillingstone of late, and they are doing the S&D proud!

Their new magazine is a credit to a small group - I love the cover pic! This is issue number one, free to all members.

The biggest news of all is that they have managed to acquire half a mile of track, enough to allow them to lay double track through the station, and single track beyond. They are also taking delivery of three items of rolling stock, including a steam loco and buffet coach!

I rejoined Shillingstone last week. I must say that their membership secretary is extremely efficient, within a few days of sending off my cheque I had membership card, magazine and a direct debit form. Hopefully I'll upgrade to life membership soon. I'm already a life member at Midsomer Norton and will be taking out life membership of the New S&D next month.

next stop spetisbury

The plan of the bit we'll take on. The station is in the top LH corner, the trackbed extends to the bottom RH.




Have just heard this afternoon that DCC are very keen for us to restore Spetisbury! Like at Midford our plan will be to rebuild the station to early 50s condition and to have an information point, shop and office in the main building. We have a lot of members at the southern end of our line so hopefully they'll be able to keep pace with the Midford team! But the one different thing at Spetisbury is that there is plenty of room for track - in fact the plan suggests that double track could be restored on this stretch as there is a lot of room either side of the cycleway.

This station is on the absolutely strategic section to the south of Blandford, the largest town in Dorset currently not rail served.

Thanks to Paul Beard for starting the process and Anna-Jayne Metcalfe for doing the recent legwork on this - both S&D heroes!

more midford

Four shots from Midford taken last Sunday by Stuart Seale. Many corners that have been buried beneath undergrowth for decades are now emerging. Most of the cut wood has gone to good homes so nothing has been wasted!

transformation

Two sets of pictures that show the incredible transformation at Midford. The top two I took on 15 September 2010 which was the very first day of operations at the site, the first day of the restoration of the whole line.

The second set of shots show Midford on Sunday with the platform and bank cleared, as well as the retaining wall that was behind the station building. (Both pics © Stuart Seale).

There's still a lot of clearance work to do both at the station and along the trackbed up to the Long Arch bridge so please try to turn up on a Sunday if you can. The blistering pace of the clearance has been very impressive and we are much much further along than I thought we would be on that warm day back in September!

gartell next weekend

gar
If you can try to get to the Model Railway Exhibition at the Gartell Railway next weekend. As well as the exhibition there will be trains running on the Gartell Railway, which runs for about half a mile over the old S&D trackbed south of Templecombe.

telegraph 37

Just received today is the latest edition of Midsomer Norton's S&D Telegraph. This is even better than usual, and covers the running of the first public trains, a momentous event in the history of the revived S&D.

You know me, I'm a Midsomer Norton fanatic and absolutely love the place. They've done an amazing job down there over the last ten years or so. I'm proud to say that I was very involved there before my family circumstances changed, serving on the board for several years, and loved every minute of it.

The magazine has to be the best in preservation - I always read it from cover to cover and there's never any 'filler' in it. Even the historical articles are excellent. Great stuff!

The editorial leads on the need for MN to bring in more volunteers. I'd urge any of you to get involved down there if you can - it's a great place and a fantastic location to be doing such important work. Remember that as a member at MN you get the Telegraph free, it's also available to non-members for just £2.95.

I'll certainly try to get down there myself to help out this year. I really miss the place.

surprise surpise ...

Rail travel is at it's highest peacetime level since 1928, when there was twice as much route and far less road traffic. Mind you this only applies to passenger traffic and I suspect that freight traffic still has some way to go before it reaches the levels of 1928 - but it will get there and quickly surpass anything seen in the past.

Privatisation was such a good thing for our railways, at last they had proper marketing and a reason to look ahead. Train travel today, if you can disregard the overcrowding which is a symptom of success, is better than it's ever been. Trains are classy, and cheap (if you book ahead). But we are only at the very beginning of the golden age of rail. We need to be opening 200-300 miles of new track every year. There are still far too many large towns not currently on the network, including many in Somerset and Dorset. As the roads vanish everyone will be clamouring for new lines, new stations, more trains. We need to be ready to satisfy these demands, and politicians need to make the right moves now, to ease the transition from road to rail. It's not just the current network, plus reversal of the Beeching cuts (how stupid they seem now!) but a huge expansion in light rail and tramways, plus industrial lines.

95% of people still rarely use a train. That is a HUGE potential market for railways. How many of them will be able to afford to run a car in five let alone ten years time?

These are indeed interesting times to be living through!

down ringwood way

(All photos © Derek Lunn.)

FACEBOOK - RAIL THING - DISUSED RAILS

The top shot is of the trackbed south of Broadstone looking towards Corfe Mullen. It shows a very minor incursion on the trackbed by a shed - hardly a problem but typical of the sort of chipping away of these essential transport links back when people didn't realise their value.

The two lower shots are of a fantastic bridge just north of Broadstone towards Wimborne. The trackbed looks very well preserved just waiting for the double track track to be relaid, and look at the superb brickwork in the long bridge/short tunnel - definitely built to last!

Derek has just taken on the Track Steward role for the stretch of line from Broadstone to Ringwood. This is one of the non-S&D routes we will restore, and will serve as an extremely useful route connecting Ringwood and Wimborne into Bournemouth, an essential commuter and freight route for the 21st century. Extending up towards West Moors and Fordingbridge, and on to Salisbury, will also be inevitable as time goes by. This will become a dense network of routes at the southern end of the S&D proper, with an additional route allowing trains to run from Bath and Templecombe direct to Wimborne, Ringwood and Brockenhurst created by a northern curve to the north of Broadstone connecting to Wimborne. Bournemouth will, at last, get proper transport to the north, routes that were destroyed between 1964 and 1966.

If you are keen on taking on a track steward role please email me at leysiner@aol.com - there are still long stretches of the line not currently covered. The role is not an onerous one, really just requiring you to keen an eye on a short stretch of the line.

endangered transport

Railways have been documented in such depth that there's hardly a corner that hasn't been recorded for posterity through pictures and words.

But will our roads leave ANY trace once the last car is garaged for good? Will a stretch of road be preserved and open for the public to experience an otherwise extinct transport mode? I hope so.

I did have the foresight even back in the 80s to record this doomed transport mode and have a good collection of pictures. But I doubt there are 1% of the number of railway shots out there. I'd urge all of you to go out and try to capture this form of transport in its dying years.

But there are a few books on cars, and even a few on the road culture (an oxymoron if ever there was one!) New member Derek Lunn has an excellent range on his website, and an even bigger range of railway titles. Take a look at his site and grab some of those rare titles. He will be sending out the New S&D brochure with every relevant book sold.

the best laid plans ...

Hmmm. Midsomer Norton and Midford are going to have to wait. I'd assumed that this morning would dawn bright and sunny, but it's grey and miserable, not at all the right conditions for photos, particularly of the S&D. So I'll have to postpone the trip I was so looking forward to yesterday! I'll try again in a couple of weeks' time.

two centre trip

A real treat tomorrow - I get to go to Midsomer Norton AND Midford. The main purpose is to get up to date pictures of both locations, also to check out the boundary at Midford and plan the next stages of clearance. And take hundreds of pictures of course!

I should be at Midford by around three so if any of you want to come up for a bit of work or just a chat please try to do so.

midford today

Three shots of Midford (courtesy of Tom Seale) taken today. The clearance proceeds apace and the transformation continues! Remember that any member is welcome to get involved with the restoration - just email me first on leysiner@aol.com to check what needs to be done.

Remember that if coming by car please do not park in the Hope and Anchor car park. There is other parking in Midford, for example in Twinhoe Lane. At a later date we may well provide on site parking places, which was the arrangement in the 1980s/90s during earlier attempts to restore the site.