Brandon – Brandon Railway Station Update

Some good news from SAVE’s Britain’s Heritage who have issued a statement today about Brandon railway station. I must admit I’m surprised, although having written that, I couldn’t get any answer from Greater Anglia about this and they didn’t seem to really know what they were doing. They couldn’t even tell me if there was to be any salvage attempt at the building or whether any of the frontage could be kept.

Anyway, SAVE’s press statement notes:

“A delightful country station dating from the golden decade of railway building and used in the filming of Dad’s Army has received a reprieve from imminent demolition. A High Court order issued today quashed the decision by Breckland District Council to allow the demolition of the 1845 station building at Brandon on the Cambridge to Norwich line. This follows judicial review proceedings launched by SAVE Britain’s Heritage seeking the quashing of the Council’s decision.

The Council had issued a lawful development certificate which said that Greater Anglia could construct a new car park under the railway permitted development rights. The Council accepted that they had failed to apply the legal test for what was railway land and overlooked SAVE’s representations.

In its response to the legal challenge the Council consented to the quashing of the certificate. Greater Anglia did not resist the Court order. SAVE will now work with the Suffolk Building Preservation Trust on new plans for repairing this historic station and bringing it back to use. A listing application has also been submitted to Historic England – supported by SAVE – and we are expecting a recommendation imminently.”