Cholsey and Wallingford Railway concerned about 502 new homes

The Cholsey and Wallingford Railway, a two and a half miles long standard gauge railway in Hithercroft Road, is located adjacent to land approved for 502 new homes.

Developers Berkeley Homes was given planning permission by South Oxfordshire District Council, the planning authority, to build the homes to the north of the A4140 Wallingford Bypass in August 2019.

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It was given under the condition that further details of appearance, landscaping, layout, and scale are submitted and approved by the council.

Map and the phases of the housing development (Berkeley Homes)

However, the volunteers who run the railway have expressed concerns about the development ecology, security and the prevention of intruders on railway land, the proximity of the development to the heritage railway and the fencing that might be used. 

Tony Stead, chairman of Wallingford and Cholsey Railway, said: “The concerns are ones of safety.

“We’re concerned about people getting on the line during construction and once it has finished.

“We want some gates across the back because people like to walk along the railway and we’ve had two incidents recently where people walk along and then through the fence – putting gates in would do us all a favour.

Cholsey and Wallingford railway

“We spoke to the developers and they’re adamant that fencing will installed 200 metres back which will also give us plenty of space but once it has finished they are going to have this giant fencing which isn’t pleasant to look at and we don’t want tourists to run through the line with that fencing.

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“We want the traditional wire fencing which have been there for most of it’s past. We want to look nice as there are railways across the UK where housing developments have popped up and they’re now running through brick walls and it’s not pleasant.”

Mr Stead added that he was worried about construction vehicles accessing the site near the track as vehicles “won’t be expecting the sudden turn”.

“People on the ground do things differently,” he said. “Developers don’t have complete control as they aren’t in there day in day out.

At a meeting of Wallingford Town Council’s planning committee, where representatives Berkeley Homes were presence, Mr Stead expressed his concerns.

Artists impression of new Wallingford estate from planning application

The representatives agreed to look into these matters and recognised that the type of fencing used along the railway and its proximity would affect the experience of passengers. 

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They also undertook to look into the concerns about access points for large lorries to the site and potential hazards for other drivers on the by-pass.

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This story was written by Gee Harland. She joined the team in 2022 as a senior multimedia reporter.

Gee covers Wallingford, Wantage and Didcot.

Get in touch with her by emailing: Gee.harland@newsquest.co.uk

Follow her on Twitter @Geeharland

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