While it is great to see articles such as the one below that recognise the beauty of the Northumberland Coast at places such as Beadnell and hopefully encourage more visitors, and consequent tourist spend; it could be chaotic to bring these tourists in by road, and repeating the problems experiences in places like the Lake District.
Below are two typical headlines seen on major news outlets, the first from the BBC, and the second from The Express. Northumberland could and should develop its tourism industry, but should aim to maintain its ‘unspoilt’ nature by avoiding a car dominant approach to tourism.
Given that places like Beadnell are so close to the East Coast Main Line (ECML), a line that connects London, Newcastle and Edinburgh as well as wider UK, it makes sense to improve access by rail (plus buses) to places along the Northumberland Coast rather than relying on roads.
RAIL NOT ROAD
To reach Beadnell, the nearest station would be Chathill, clearly seen on the above route diagram between the more major neighbouring stations at Alnmouth (for Alnwick) and Berwick (Upon Tweed) – yet at present, this station is only served by two trains daily to/from Newcastle.
It isn’t just this campaign that is setting out to see improved rail services; with the independent Chathill Rail Action Group campaigning for improved rail services too as can be seen from a recent news article below, but also long-standing campaigns from national groups like Railfuture with their North of Morpeth campaign.
As our last post describes, our petition for the Northumberland Coast Loop has now exceeded the number of signatures that the Dual the A1 petition recieved, with the dualling petition having recieved 624 signatures by time of it closing, and at time writing the N.C.L. Petition standing at 630 and still open for further signatures.
If you can, please support Northumberland to avoid the car chaos seen in the Lake District and other tourism hotspots and use our existing rail network to best effect.
The Northumberland Coast Loop 