Helpston Crossing Group

HELPSTON LEVEL CROSSING CLOSURES – PROJECT IS IN ABEYANCE  Helpston Crossing Group Logo

Network Rail has decided to postpone the project and will deal with the closures on an individual basis “as funds become available”. So the Helpston Crossing Group will wait until further news is received before updating this page further.

HCG’s Open Forum Events

On Friday 5th and Saturday 6th December over 58 people braved the frost to attend the Helpston Crossing Group’s Open Forum event in Helpston Village Hall.  The purpose of the event was to raise awareness locally of the impact of Network Rail’s plans to close the five level crossings surrounding Helpston.

 The organisers displayed the proposals submitted by Network Rail.  In addition to this, three alternative proposals submitted by local individuals via our Facebook page, were also displayed. (You can view these alternative proposals on our FB page or on our helpston.net page under community groups or we can email them to you).
Visitors enjoyed a cup of tea and were able to ask questions, share ideas, agree and disagree about the proposals.   Our local Councillor and Mayor of Peterborough, David Over, spent some time discussing the proposals and we were also delighted to meet visitors from Bainton, Helpston, Ufford and Maxey Parish Councils, the majority of whom discussed their concerns about the impact of the Network Rail plans.
Charles Simpson attended on behalf of local MP Shailesh Vara, who was unable to attend but was very keen to demonstrate his interest.
The majority of those attending the event told us that they had found it useful and informative and 42 people completed a feedback form.  The feedback gathered demonstrated that 93% of attendees felt very or some concern about the increase of traffic and 88% were very or had some concern about increased risk to pedestrians.  There were also concerns about parking.
The results of our feedback forms, with all comments, are shown below and can also be found on our FB page or at http://helpston.net/community-groups/helpston-crossing-group/ or downloaded here: Feedback Results
If you would like to complete a feedback form, or have any comments or are interested in becoming involved in HCG please email protecthelpston@gmail.com or post a comment on our Helpston Crossing Group Facebook page.
Network Rail will be returning to Helpston Village Hall on Tuesday 20th January 2015 to present their subsequent proposal after having taken into account feedback from the village.  Information relating to the closures can be found at www.networkrail.co.uk/ECMLlevelcrossings.  You can also email them on ECMLlevelcrossings@networkrail.co.uk
If you haven’t done so already, we would encourage you to complete our petition:
We have 85 signatures already!
Thanks again to all of those that attend our event and showed support – keep the ideas coming!

We have an on-line petition: 38degrees.org.uk/petitions/change-the-network-rail-crossing-closure-proposals but there will also be a paper based petition at the Open Forums should you wish to sign it.

Helpston Crossing Group is a representative group of villagers and Helpston Parish Council, working together to ensure that the entire village community is fully aware and informed of Network Rail’s plans to close five of the level crossings surrounding Helpston village

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