| Compromise reached over tree felling
Tree surgeons working for the rail infrastructure company are now clearing low-hanging branches and shrubs to allow surveyors access to the trackbed of a former goods train loop line which runs along the eastern edge of Port Meadow and Wolvercote Common, from Aristotle Lane to the junction for the Cotswold Line to Worcester. If it was reinstated, trains from Oxford towards Banbury and the Cotswold Line would be able to run in parallel to Wolvercote, rather than having to share a single track. The loop line was built in the early 1940s to cope with a surge in rail traffic during the Second World War. Network Rail wants to complete a detailed survey to assess what work will be needed to get the overgrown trackbed back into shape to carry a railway line again as part of its plans to raise capacity through Oxford. "This will enable surveyors to assess the condition of the ground, while limiting the visual impact. A Network Rail spokesman said: "We are aware of local people's concerns and, following discussions with the council's tree officer and ecologists, have agreed to limit the vegetation clearance to a metre-wide strip along the embankment. For most of its length it ran on an embankment separated from the main trackbed of the Oxford-Banbury line by a drainage channel. |
Sunday 13 May 2012
Compromise reached over tree felling
