Wind in the Willows countryside is ‘ruined’ by rail electrification
NETWORK Rail has been accused of despoiling swaths of some of England’s most attractive countryside as it electrifies the Great Western line.
The work involves chopping down thousands of trees to make way for what critics call ugly and intrusive steel gantries to carry power cables.
Dozens of the gantries have already been erected through Goring Gap, which links the line between Reading and Didcot and lies between the Chilterns and the North Wessex Downs, both areas of outstanding natural beauty (AONB). Campaigners say the structures are visible for miles around.
Goring Gap is widely recognised as one of the most picturesque stretches of the Thames. Kenneth Grahame’s 1908 children’s classic The Wind in the
Willows was inspired by the area and Jerome K Jerome’s novella Three Men
in a Boat is also partially set there. Critics say the electrification work has ruined vistas of one of the finest landscapes in southern England, and accuse Network Rail of abusing its permitted development rights to carry out infrastructure work without having to seek planning permission. They are de- manding that the gantries be replaced with a more attractive, less intrusive design sympathetic to the landscape.
There are also fears that planned work along the stretch of line passing through the southern Cotswolds, between Swindon and Bath, will damage another much-loved landscape.
The cost of electrifying the route from London to Bristol has tripled from the original £874million estimate to as much as £2.8 billion, an overspend that threatens to put several other rail improvement schemes in doubt.
The Chilterns Conservation Board says that while it supports the electrification of the network, “the gantries being installed along the Great Western line through the Chilterns AONB are large, ugly and intrusive, completely out of keeping with the landscape”.
Lucy Murfett, the board’s planning officer, said: “The section through the AONB is getting the worst possible design of gantry. I am sure we could work with Network Rail to get a better solution that would fit these lovely and nationally protected landscapes.”
The conservation board said the company had failed in its statutory duty to protect an AONB.
Residents living in homes and vil- lages along the line have also complained that the engineering work – which took place through the night during December, including over the Christmas period – left them unable to sleep or relax.
The Campaign to Protect Rural England has called for Network Rail to set up an independent panel to review the design and setting of the gantries and the landscaping of the electrified line.
Network Rail said its work on electrifying the West Coast mainline was essential for the future of the region. “We’re modernising the route to create faster, more reliable services, better stations and increased freight capacity. This is the biggest investment in the Great Western railway since Brunel built it more than 150 years ago. Modernising the route will improve the experience of everyone who uses it and stimulate economic growth in the South West and beyond.”
‘The section through the area of outstanding natural beauty is getting the worst possible design of gantry’