There are various documents associated with the new Level Crossing proposals.
These are the minutes of the Bypass Committee meeting 25th July 2019
Minutes of the first meeting of the Tallington Parish Council 2019 Bypass Committee
held on Thursday 25th July 2019 at 7.30 pm in the Village Hall.
Those present were Cllr. Philip Sagar, Cllr. Ken Otter, Cllr. John Smith, Cllr. Joan Brocklebank,
Cllr. Rosemary Trollop Bellew, Cllr. Kelham Cook, John Allen, Geoff Sutcliffe, Pauline Horrocks, Justin Mackenzie, Jeff Peck, Colin Baker and 2 others.
Cllr. Philip Sagar welcomed everyone to this first meeting, apologising for the extreme heat!
Item 1. It was necessary to elect a sub committee chairman for this meeting. Philip was asked to do this as it was necessary to have an even handed chair, freeing Cllr. Otter to speak.
Cllr. John Smith proposed Cllr. Sagar and Philip accepted the invitation and to chair future meetings.
Cllr. Sagar then read a message from Cllr. Mayling outlining the history of previous attempts to get the level crossing bridge, noting that these were not achievable in 2015. He also suggested the term Committee be used rather than sub-committee. He then stood down from being a member of the committee to allow an unbiased opinion at full council meetings. Agreed.
Item 2. Apologies; Cllr. Geoff Mayling.(holiday) Cllr. Robert Golland (harvesting) Cllr. Louise Isaacs (working), Paul and Lisa Showler. Chris Newsome, Mervyn Franklin, Accepted.
Item 3. Cllr. Otter said that he thought we did not need to worry too much about changes to the bypass committee's terms of reference as the primary argument for closure of the level crossing is the increased number of new faster Azuma trains ordered by NR not able to be run to capacity and speed as there are still 26 level crossings on the route - Tallington being one of the main ones. The gates are currently closed for 46 minutes in every hour, rising to 57 minutes by January 2020. Suggested changes to the Terms of Reference:
5a, A high level guestimate of what we think the bypass will cost
5b. Identify potential sources of funding
5c. Contact potential sources of funding to establish whether they are viable at this time,
Proposed by Cllr. John Smith that these amendments be adopted. Agreed.
Cllr. Ken Otter gave his notes in a Powerpoint form for the benefit of attendees and those who couldn't attend. It was presented in 2 parts; Part 1 covering the bypass problem to date...
Item 4. The Stamford Road detrunking: The A16 was detrunked in 2002 but not renumbered until 2010/11
Proposals from 2015 are on the shelf as no funding is yet available. In 2015 SKDC accepted the building of more houses in an informal survey, enough to stimulate a 50% uplift in funding. That was shelved and the only NR funding locally has gone to building a new underpass for goods trains at Werrington. The Office of Road and Rail and NR's Health and Safety Director are aware that this has all the elements of a nightmare likely to happen in view of the increased number of high speed trains and lack of capacity.
Under the Freedom of Information Act, Cllr. Otter applied for the results of traffic flow on the A1175 now the new A16 is open. Has the detrunking reduced HGVs through traffic on what was the A16 from Stamford to Spalding via Deeping. Only the Fruit and Veg HGVs to and from Spalding to the south via Peterborough - otherwise the survey shows there is little change here over the last 8 years, the traffic remains heavy through Tallington, with increased HGV traffic to and from the new gravel pits.
Cllr, Sagar confirmed that the Thurlby family are still prepared to offer help but more realistic assurances from NR about funding for a bridge are needed due to the costs of advice they have already spent.
Cllr. Otter believes that a proper scheme for a bypass might stand a chance by pointing out the current problems of rail capacity and an attempt made to open up funding from elsewhere. There is also currently a need by the government for infrastructure projects that improve the economy, to apply for.
Cllr. Otter has obtained interest from Birmingham University and starting in September a Student from the University accompanied by the Professor in charge of Transport Studies will do a Research thesis on the need for this improvement and a cost benefit analysis. A consultative body will therefore be on our side, who will argue the case with Central Government.
LCC are currently responsible for the A1175 and would have to, jointly with NR, plan and build the bypass but there is no funding. Accepted.
Item 5. Cllr. Otter instigated 2 surveys, local bus use and the use of the crossing by non-car users.
Item 5a. The survey to show the current use of the bus service between the 15-19th July. The requirement for the bypass is - do we need a bus service ? See separate graph .It was felt that the new bypass could easily incorporate better bus stops at more appropriate places. Accepted.
Item 5b. Use of the crossing by cyclists, pedestrians etc. Great inconvenience was caused except to the most agile as the only way over the crossing was to use the steps, as there is no provision of ramps. Accepted.
Part 2 of Cllr. Otter's presentation looked at solutions.
Item 6. What do we think we can achieve?
Cllr. Otter showed the Glinton model for a new ramp over the railway there..
Modifications to the footbridge at Tallington to allow access from the village to the garage, shop and pub. would be a relatively straightforward project as the bridge's top surface has recently been renewed and would only require a new ramp system which can be accommodated on NR land.
It was proposed an application be made to NR as soon as possible for this to be done. Agreed.
At Ken's request item 9 was pulled forward as it was most logical to be inserted here.
Item 9. Accommodating the Barholm Road Nursery if a bypass route goes through that field.
The new owners of the nursery buildings hadn't been informed of the likelihood of a bypass when they purchased the business. Drawings were shown how future provision could be made if or when a bypass route was agreed through that land. They asked to be kept informed. Agreed.
Item 7. Discussion was held around a new bypass route, with those present asked to give their opinions about what they thought was the best route, before Ken presented his proposal. It was agreed that his scheme based on the original 1953 route was the most viable, making a safe route that would not need further changes in the future. Bus stops on the bypass removed the need for any through traffic in the village beyond the Bainton Road corner - which all said was positive. All drawings offered will be looked at and persons contacted who expressed differing views about Ken's proposal to allow a full range of input. These will be circulated before a decision is finalised. Agreed.
Item 8. Maintaining local control. Cllr. Sagar asked for any information forthcoming from the County and District Councillor's and any from Network Rail. Cllr. Kelham Cook suggested writing to our MP.Nick Boles but also suggested that we should approach the new rail minister - Grant Shapps. Cllr. Sagar asked Kelham if he would work with the Parish council and SKDC.
Geoff Sutcliffe said that co-operation worked in 2015. Cllr. John Smith proposed a Joint statement from all three bodies. Cllr. Sagar agreed. We will then approach Network Rail at the right time. Kelham agreed that he could provide information that could be helpful as he was involved with negotiations for building a bridge over the main line at Grantham.
Cllr. Otter said that he belongs to a group called Common Purpose which looks for solutions in the Public, Private and Charitable Sectors. He offered to speak to likely funding bodies on behalf of the Parish Council, with the support of both LCC and SKDC Councillors. Agreed.
The meeting was concluded at 9.30 pm Cllr. Sagar thanked everyone for attending.
Cllr. Otter was thanked for the work that he had done in preparing for the meeting.
The following documents are available to download here.
Agenda 25th July 2019
Notes of meeting 25th July 2019
Agenda 7th October 2019
Proposal letter
Proposal Map
West Options
Bus Surveys
Traffic Surveys
Presentation 1
Presentation 2
TLC Crossing Survey Summer 2019
TPC Crossing Survey Autumn 2019
Notes of Meeting 7th October 2019
Road Responses