The Whitwell & Reepham Railway Preservation Society has withdrawn a planning application to re-lay the railway track on the platform side of Whitwell Station. (This news was received after the March edition of Reepham Life had gone to press.) The plan's withdrawal was said to be due to a "technical reason" and it is understood they will be re-submitted.
In its original application, which was submitted at the end of January, the heritage group said this would have provided better access for disabled and elderly passengers to board the heritage diesel and steams trains operating at the station.
If approved, the plan would have involved fencing off around 300 metres of the old Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway track bed, which is now Marriott’s Way in the ownership of Norfolk County Council and used by walkers, cyclists and horse-riders.
Meanwhile, work to replace the marquee at Whitwell Station is well under way. With scaffolding being erected in February, the roof trusses for the permanent function room were due to have been placed by the end of March.
The provisional plan is that the scaffold on the gable ends will be removed by 19 April, when a Bentley cars event is scheduled; two weddings have been booked for the end of May.
Building work on the new toilet block has now been completed and finishing touches are being applied ready for the first flush of spring.
The toilet block was built with the support of a £50,000 grant from the Biffa Award, a multi-million pound fund that awards grants to community and environmental projects across the UK.
The fund’s money comes from landfill tax credits donated by Biffa Group, a nationwide, integrated waste management business providing collection, treatment, recycling and technologically driven energy generation services.
Building work to replace the marquee at Whitwell Station is well under way