Historic station building in Bedlington recommended for demolition, despite community use alternative

Plans to reopen Bedlington station for the Northumberland Line project are already approved, but a fresh application has since been submitted asking to demolish the southern station building.

Replacing the platform to comply with modern standards involves removing the building’s foundations, which would be expensive and complicated.

Planners are recommending councillors approve the demolition at the Strategic Planning Committee meeting on Tuesday, August 1.

The planning officer’s report said: “If the building is to be retained it would need to be underpinned whilst the existing platform is demolished and the new platform installed.

“It is in generally poor condition, having been little used by its owner, Network Rail, since the station closed in the 1960s and the costs of underpinning and of repair and restoration to a beneficial use are significant.”

The work without demolishing the building would cost £375,000, with repairs to resulting building damage costing between £100,000 and £200,000. Restoration from that point to a usable condition would cost £325,000 further.

East Bedlington Parish Council nevertheless objected, saying: “Network Rail has continually ignored our attempts at dialogue. Meanwhile the buildings have continued to degenerate due to lack of maintenance.”

The council added: “The original planning application for the station clearly shows both buildings as retained on the platform. We would like to understand what has changed since then.”

It proposes both buildings be maintained and used as a museum, station facilities, a cafe, and market space.

It has set aside £40,000 and submitted a Borderlands Place Programme funding application for its proposal.

West Bedlington Town Council has also objected, as have 14 members of the public citing support for community use and the building’s heritage value. The county council’s architectural heritage department also objected.

Although not as old or as detailed as the north building, built in 1850, the south building, built between 1900 and 1910, remains one of few untouched buildings from the original Ashington, Blyth and Tyne Line.

Heritage group The Newcastle and Northumberland Society furthered calls for “all reasonable opportunities” to save the building be explored before demolition.

Responding to the plans, they said: “Reinstating the Northumberland Line as soon as practicable is clearly highly desirable, however it is equally evident that if demolished, the building of the quality and significance that is subject of this application is irreplaceable.”

However, the Railway Heritage Trust, which aims to preserve historical railway structures, said it believed the northern building was the most valuable asset, and that it would be better to concentrate scarce restoration funding on one building.

The trust’s executive director, Tim Hedley-Jones, said: “The risk is that if both buildings are retained, the southern building will suck resources into making that good and the northern building will suffer and turn out as merely adequate.”

Planning officers agreed with the trust, saying: “The concentration of funding on one building is more likely to achieve a positive outcome than spreading any funding between the two buildings.

“The demolition of the southern building would allow a more attractive entrance to the station to be provided as illustrated by drawings recently submitted.”