TRAIN OF THOUGHT LEADS TO BRIGG OBJECTION BEING WITHDRAWN

Praiseworthy common sense has been shown in the end by Network Rail over a planning application about Wednesday car boot sales in Brigg - near the station.
The rail company originally objected, but now says that as long as the applicant provides a route through the site while the sale is operating, the firm is willing to lift its objection.
This switch - if we can use a railway pun - came after a case officer at North Lincolnshire Council pointed out to Network Rail that car boot sales were only proposed for a few hours a week and that a planning condition could be devised to allay concerns about access.
The original Network Rail letter - placed in the public domain by the council as part of the transparent planning process - might make some Brigg Blog readers who know this site gasp a little or raise a eyebrow.
In a moment we will add a link so you can read all the correspondence in context between the rail firm and council planners and make your own mind up.
However, first we would drawn your attention to Network Rail's originally voiced "concerns over the potential damage to the surface of the area" and to suggestions that the station, which has had Saturday-only passenger trains for about 20 years, might possibly be "reopened on a weekday by a new incumbent franchisee."
Many people in Brigg would really welcome a new firm stepping in to restore weekday trains, but it seems about as remote as Network Rail reinstating all the lines that Dr Beeching axed in the 1960s.
Most of us also know the rough state of the approach to the station which has prompted many complaints over many years, even reaching as far as Westminster in the days when Ian Cawsey was our man in the House of Commons.
Brigg Town Council has raised no objection to permission being granted for these Wednesday car boot sales on the same site used each Thursday by Stennett's auction.
However, the application is likely to go before the planning committee at North Lincolnshire Council for a decision.
The vast majority of applications are now decided by council officers. But this one to change the use of land to hold a car boot sale on Wednesdays every week between 9am and 3pm, on Station Road, seems destined for a monthly meeting in Scunthorpe of elected councillors.
The application was first placed in the public domain in mid-July and two months were allowed for any comments to be lodged with the authority.
The Wednesday car boot sales started in May and today we noted plenty of folk heading that way up Station Road.

READ NETWORK RAIL'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE COUNCIL THROUGH THIS LINK


Picture courtesy of Ken Harrison