SHOULD BRIGG STATION BUILDINGS HAVE BEEN GRADE 2 LISTED LIKE OTHERS ON THIS ICONIC RAILWAY LINE?

Improvement alterations are currently being proposed for an historic building which once formed part of the iconic Brigg railway line, opened in the late 1840s.
A householder application seeking consent to alter the Station House at Blyton, whose station closed to passengers in 1959, is now being considered by West Lindsey District Council.
This relates to a grade two listed building, which prompts Brigg Blog to wonder why all, or some, of our town's much more extensive range of station buildings adjoining platform one  were not afforded similar protection by being granted listed status.
Instead, the demolition of the Brigg booking office (with distinctive portico entrance), waiting room, station master's house and porter's cottage proceeded at various times during the 1980s and 1990s.
The latter decade also saw the removal of the nearby brick 'coal drops' - by then rare survivors located underneath sidings close to today's metal auction market shed.
Since the removal of the 'drops' in the 1990s, this land - used for decades by a local coal merchant - has remained vacant; there has been no commercial or housing redevelopment.
Blyton railway station's full title was Blyton For Corringham (the latter being a village near Gainsborough).
Following the withdrawal of its passenger facilities, British Railways kept the freight yard going until 1964 - wagons being shunted by a pick-up goods train which ran from Retford to Brigg, collecting and dropping off wagons as required.
The planning application recently submitted to West Lindsey planners seeks approval to make internal amendments, including removing a wall and installing a new glass screen, French doors, raising a parapet wall, new flat roof and roof lanterns, reinstate ground floor window, and new 1st floor window with stone head and sill, and other alterations. Listed building consent is also being sought.
A statement submitted in support of the application stresses these amendments will retain the character of the existing building but bring it "in line with modern living."
West Lindsey District Council says a public consultation period is now under way on the planning and listed building applications.
Other northern Lincolnshire stations on the original Manchester Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway mainline which were also closed by British Railways/British Rail were Northorpe (1955), Scawby & Hibaldstow (1968) and Brocklesby (1993).
The stations at Brigg and Kirton Lindsey still remain open as 'halts' without on-site ticket-booking facilities, but are only served by passenger trains on Saturdays, which has been the case since 1993. Three trains are timetabled to callo on Saturdays - three towards Cleethorpes and three bound for Sheffield via Gainsborough and Retford.
Kirton's Station House on the Brigg line was given listed building status in 1985 while Glanford Borough Council was the local planning authority. Brocklesby station (in West Lindsey) was also grade two listed that same year.
With hindsight, Brigg's original railway station buildings might have proved suitable for tasteful conversion into a number of flats or even two or three houses, incorporating the stylish portico entry columns (subject to planning permission being forthcoming).

PICTURED: Brigg railway station prior to the demolition of its original Victorian buildings near platform one, including the station master's house (top right). The lower view shows the station as it now looks (image courtesy of Neil Stapleton). Do you consider these buildings were worth saving with a view to conversion into housing?