Mid Norfolk Railway wants to keep using old platform

A heritage railway wants permission to keep using a station platform after discovering it should have been removed decades ago.

The temporary structure was installed at Wymondham Abbey Station in the 1990s, to allow the Mid Norfolk Railway to run tourist services from there.

It was made from scaffolding, with boards laid on top.

Plans approved in 1997 included conditions that the temporary structure should be gone by the end of 1999.

Some 24 years later, the trust running the line has asked South Norfolk Council if it could keep the scaffold platform until it had the funds for a proper replacement.

The structure was only meant to be a stopgap measure, with a more traditional platform due to be built, states the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The railway, which runs steam and diesel locomotives, said the discovery its platform was in breach of planning conditions came as a "total surprise".

A statement sent to the council said: "Anecdotal evidence from railway colleagues suggests that the soft ground conditions of the River Tiffey Valley put an unaffordable construction cost on the project, for what was at this time an infant heritage railway.

"The ultimate intention is to create a new station facility, as and when funds permit, and thereby remove the scaffold platform."

The railway is closed for the winter, and is due to reopen in March.

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