The Somerset & Dorset Railway Heritage Trust has issued a progress report on the development of the proposed Somervale Sidings at Midsomer Norton.

At first sight, nothing appears to be happening, but significant progress is being made behind the scenes.

A planning application was originally submitted to the Local Planning Authority (LPA) in November 2022, but approval was not granted until October 2024.

There are various reasons why approval took so long, but through the persistence of the Trust’s Chairman, Stephen Lacey, the many obstacles with which it was confronted were overcome.

Work has yet to start on actually installing the sidings because six pages covering an extensive set of conditions accompanied the Planning Approval Notice.

These must all meet the satisfaction of the LPA and IRS Ecology Department, especially one stating “No development shall take place until full details of a Biodiversity Gain Plan for on- and off-site delivery and monitoring of Biodiversity Net Gain and a Habitat Management Plan shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority.”

That required the Trust to again engage the services of the fully qualified ecologist used throughout the application process.

Last December, a meeting was held with the Ecologist to work through the LPA’s requirements, and the Ecologist has now supplied the requisite Habitat Management and Monitoring Plan.

That is a forty-page document which has been reviewed and approved and is ready for submission by the Ecologist to the LPA. It is estimated that it will probably be at least eight weeks before the LPA responds, meaning it will be some time before installation work can start.

The Management Plan lasts for thirty years. There will be five-yearly reviews to ensure that the stipulated requirements are being complied with, which is necessary because of recent Government legislation relating to all developments where a Habitat Management and Monitoring Plan is required, such as when developments take place at the Tunnel Lane end of the railway.

A great deal has been learnt from what initially seemed to be a simple development. A valuable lesson is that any future significant developments will require the services of professional organisations who fully understand the complexities of submitting planning applications and managing the developments if the planning applications are approved.

The Trust is now looking forward to the time when the sidings have been installed, and there is a place to store rolling stock safely away from the station itself. That will avoid the need to shunt rolling stock at the start and end of each day whenever the railway is operational.

Last week, RailAdvent published a review of a book by Tim Hillier-Graves titled Locomotives of the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway: A Definitive Survey 1854-1966.