Planning blow to Thameslink scheme

Railtrack today suffered a massive setback as its £1 billion scheme to revitalise London rail links was condemned by a planning inspector.

The Thameslink 2000 scheme was supposed to ease rail congestion in London by allowing trains to run from the Midlands to the South Coast directly through the capital.

Under the ambitious original proposals, Thameslink trains had planned to serve 11 new routes and almost 120 additional stations between the South Coast and the south Midlands - almost doubling the number of stations linked by the Thameslink service.

The most significant part of the scheme would have seen massive changes to London Bridge Station, Blackfriars Station and a widening of the viaduct at Borough High Street.

But today the plans are in tatters after a scathing report by a planning inspector which condemns virtually all of those proposals.

The report comes from the major public inquiry held between June 2000 and May 2001, and the inspector's conclusions have been confirmed by Planning Minister Lord Rooker.

The inquiry inspector, David Ward, agreed that Thameslink 2000 - as it was optimistically named in the mid-Nineties - would bring very substantial public benefits both to the travelling public and to the economy of London.

But Lord Rooker said: "The inspector has also found some serious shortcomings in the present proposals - the submitted applications should not be approved before these problems have been satisfactorily resolved."

The inspector found that the design of the proposed new concourse and canopies at London Bridge Station "would be inappropriate to a major station in the capital".

The proposed demolitions in the fashionable Borough High Street area he considers would have serious effects on the character and appearance of the area. "Acceptable reinstatement proposals" will have to be produced before any approval is given, the inspector said.

Borough High Street and its historic market have been the backdrop to major films including Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels and Bridget Jones's Diary.

There has been a long-running campaign by some businesses in the area to

save the market area from the development. The Thameslink 2000 proposals would mean that the existing rail viaduct would need to be substantially widened. This would require the demolition of part of the Borough Market roof and 14 listed buildings - something objectors say would ruin the character of the area.

At Blackfriars Station, the Inspector decided that the proposed new single-storey concourse "would be out of scale with other properties in the vicinity, with a devastating effect on the townscape".

Lord Rooker said: "We accept the Inspector's advice that the deficiencieshe mentions require resolution before a decision can appropriately be made on the scheme as a whole."

This would require fresh planning applications, together with a suitably amended Environmental Statement for all the areas in question.

Railtrack will now be invited "to make representations on a suitable way forward in the light of the inspector's recommendations".

A Railtrack spokeswoman said: "We note the inspector's concerns about 'three deficiencies' in the proposed design. It is too early to be able to comment about the possible implications of cost, timescales or overall scheme viability."

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