Case Study Infilling of Railway Cutting

A non-commercial landowner short of grazing land for horses did not want to loose some of the precious grass to an all weather arena. They applied for planning permission to infill enough of a derelict railway cutting on which to put the proposed arena  - but met strong objections from the local council on

• access by large lorries on the local road network
• a requirement for an ecology survey of the railway cutting where old bridges and trees may have housed bats
• an existing conservation lake may have held newts
• the railways was a known area of interest for heathland plants

Landyke carried out a spring survey of the railway and locality

• advised the local council and wildlife trust who were objecting to the proposals of the relatively low level of ecological interest
• by negoiation reduced the extent of the survey required
• commissioned a survey by a respected licenced surveyor who as a result of the Landyke basic pre-survey survey only needed to spend the minimum amount of time on site rather than night and day surveys over an extended period
• permission was granted and construction should be going ahead in 2010.

The photos show one of the first loads of soil imported and then the cutting about 75% full.......we will update the photos to show you the finished levels and the all weather manege just as soon as it is finished.