Helston Railway has two planning permissions under consideration by the County Council. The local Parish Council have decided to recommend rejection of both of them. These planning permissions are vital to safeguard the future of the Helston Railway as without them we will not be able to continue our project to further develop and continue to run a small tourist railway. Please sign our petition and help us to show the County Council what support there is for the future development of this project and to urge them to approve both of these planning applications.

The planning permissions are both for Trevarno Farm Prospidnick Helston Cornwall TR13 0RY

PA13/02840 Construction a roadway to serve The Helston Railway and for farmers to access surrounding fields in the area now known as Trevarno Farm and

PA13/02733 Use of a temporary railway platform structure and construction of a permanent platform. Extension to existing railway track and construction of sidings. Formation of car park. Erection of portakabins for manufacturing Organic Trevarno skin care products. Change of use of farm buildings to storage, workshops and retail sales. Minor widening of existing access road to serve daffodil fields and heritage railway.

Details of the plans can be seen on the Cornwall Council planning website and other information is on the Helston Railway website. See links

Helston Railway is a small charity which runs and develops a heritage railway in West Cornwall. Entirely run by volunteers, since 2005 it has cleared and laid a mile of track on the closed Gwinear Road to Helston branch line and now runs passenger services on two days a week. In 2010 it won a prestigious national Heritage Railway Award. We pride ourselves on the support we give to local community groups either through providing opportunities to learn new skills through volunteering; or in our programme of education about railways and their heritage where we visit local groups and schools to give talks. For the last two years we have also provided a much needed tourism destination for both visitors to the county but also to local families bringing much needed income into the local community.

We had hoped that the local parish council would support our application but were surprised and disappointed that the process did not allow us to make our case locally. The rejection document that has been submitted by the Parish Council to Cornwall Council includes many inaccurate statements and does not accurately reflect the content of the planning applications themselves. We recognise that it is important to have due regard to the needs of local residents and are willing to work with them to mitigate the effect of our presence in their midst. We are contacting local councillors and other individuals who will be able to help us make our case but we wanted to also provide our supporters with a means of expressing their support for our railway’s development.

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