Resort protest over rail link plan

Opponents to the rail line plan in Southwold

Hundreds of protesters turned out in a popular Suffolk seaside resort on Tuesday in an attempt to steamroller plans for a £6.5m rail link.

The plan is to re-open a nine-mile 3 ft narrow gauge line linking Southwold with inland Halesworth.

The line opened in 1879 but has been closed for more than 70 years.

Supporters claim it will help take seasonal traffic away from the town.

Opponents claim the line would destroy wildlife on the route and the atmosphere of the sedate resort.

They say the new line would be slightly different and would pass through an area surrounded by protected reed beds.

Southwold is at peace with its surroundings. This will disturb it. It will change everything Geoffrey Munn

One of the leading opponents, Geoffrey Munn, an expert on the BBC Antiques Roadshow who has a home in Southwold, tagged the plan Thomas the Tank Engine nostalgia.

"It is a little ecological disaster on wheels," he said.

"It goes through some of the most sensitive landscape in the United Kingdom, through some of the most sensitive wildlife and past one of the most dramatic medieval churches we have in this country right behind the churchyard.

"Southwold is at peace with its surroundings. This will disturb it. It will change everything."

The Southwold Railway Society is behind the plan.

Society spokesman John Bennett said: "I think the experience of other narrow gauge trains is that wildlife and trains get on very well together - wildlife ignores trains."

He added that they would not begin any attempts to raise money for the project unless a good working proportion of the town supported the plan.

"We are very flattered that people think we can do it. We haven't got the permissions or the money to do it," he added.

As town councillors prepared to discuss the plan there were 300 letters against it and nine in favour.