THE managing director of Dartmoor Railway this week urged planners to back the possibility that a daily Okehampton to Exeter rail service could become reality in the next five to ten years.

John Hummel has asked West Devon Borough Council to provide facilities for such a service within its new local plan, which is the subject of an ongoing public inquiry.

On behalf of Dartmoor Railway, Mr Hummel asked that a rail freight terminal be provided at the rear of Exeter Road Industrial Estate and a Parkway station on the south side of Exeter Road, to include a ?substantial? area of car parking.

He has also requested the re-opening of Sampford Courtenay station and for the creation of a new station near North Tawton.

Mr Hummel said: ?Okehampton is virtually the only place in the country that?s sat there with a serviceable railway and no service ? we are in the unusual situation that there would be no capital cost to it ? it?s a big asset.?

Mr Hummel said, given the amount of houses which were due to be built in the town, a daily train service in addition to the present Sunday only service from Okehampton to Exeter was a ?natural development?.

?It wouldn?t just serve Okehampton, it would serve people further away,? he said.

Mr Hummel said an Okehampton Parkway station would be ?really essential? in providing enough usage for a daily service.

?It would serve two purposes. It would serve traffic coming off the A30 without having to go through Okehampton, so that wouldn?t really cause anyone any grief.

?It would also be within walking distance of the area where most of the new building will take place in Okehampton.

?This would actually be a local station serving all the new development ? it seems to be perfectly logical,? he said.

Mr Hummel said he was pleased the new local plan safeguarded the land within the rail corridor ? but felt planners were taking a long-term l Continued from page 1

view and not looking to the medium-term.

?They are not being as positive as they ought to be,? he said.

He said more advantage should be taken of developers in the area.

Mr Hummel said building firms were often asked to contribute to the infrastructure of an area ? the same conditions could be applied to rail transport.

He said: ?You could actually get a sizeable sum of money. If you think of the number of houses going into Okehampton, you could actually fund the Parkway station ? it?s a perfectly acceptable mechanism.?

Mr Hummel accepted his proposed list of inclusions in the local plan was ?somewhat ambitious? but felt the plan should take account of changes which could take place in rail transport in the future.

Chris Dunford, West Devon?s principle forward planning officer, said the new local plan had not identified specific sites for stations at either Okehampton or North Tawton, mainly because, to date, there was not enough evidence to suggest the sites suggested were in the best place.

He said: ?There is nothing in the plan that would stop these things from happening, it?s just that we are not comfortable about identifying specific sites without full information.

?As a borough council, I?m sure we would be very supportive of such an idea.?

Mr Dunford said the suggested site for a freight terminal already had planning permission and as there was already a station at Sampford Courtenay, re-opening it was not an issue for the local plan.

The issue of developer contributions toward railways had not been proved, he said.

?We don?t feel we are in the position where we could refuse an application because of the current state of the railways ? we do have good road and bus links. We are not yet convinced we could require contributions from a developer in this way,? he said.

Mr Dunford said the borough would be responding to Dartmoor Railway?s written submission in due course.