Northumberland community group calls for support with plans for 97-mile greenway on disused railway line

The Borderline Trail Community Interest Company (CIC) is looking to secure money to help fund the creation of the route.

The circular greenway would utilise disused railway tracks between Alnmouth and Cornhill and Cornhill and Berwick, before following the Northern Counties Railway line between Berwick and Alnmouth.

The CIC is currently working on phase one of the trail, which will connect Alnmouth Station and the Aln Valley Railway Greenway to the former Alnwick to Cornhill line.

Work to construct both the link and the new trail is expected to begin this spring, with hopes that the greenway will accommodate pedestrians, cyclists, horse-riders, and both wheelchair and mobility scooter users.

The last trains ran on the Alnwick to Cornhill Line in 1953, and while much of the track is still accessible, there has been no maintenance carried out since then. The plan is to make a two-metre wide track which will allow users to pass each other safely.

Up to this point, the project has been funded predominantly by local people involved with the CIC.

Speaking at last week’s meeting of the North Northumberland Local Area Committee, chairman Colin Davidson said: “This is a gold-plated opportunity for Northumberland. It’s a big scheme but it is just us at the moment.

“We hope when it comes to county council level you will all support us in what we’re trying to do here. We almost have a planning application ready.

“We’re determined to get this through and I’m hoping we can get it to be a much bigger thing. It’s a fantastic opportunity to get to the heritage of the railways.

“Northumberland is about the only county in England that has got next to nothing about its old railways – Durham has miles and miles of former railways where you can walk and cycle.

“Everything we have put forward so far has come out of our own pockets – we really want this to happen. Help us try to bring this into reality.”

The project has also been supported with funding from Alnwick Town Council and Alnwick ward councillor Gordon Castle.

Fellow Alnwick councillor Martin Swinbank said: “It is an aspirational project – but nobody gets anywhere without aspiration.”