This recent article by the BBC talks about how a new 70 space car park behind the Ruskin Museum in Coniston could be the start of the ruination of the Lake District by paving it over; arguably destroying the picturesque landscape of the area by doing so.
Northumberland, with a less developed but growing tourism industry could fare better, if the existing public transport network was used better (i.e. more stopping services between Berwick and Newcastle as argued for by Railfuture) as well as being enhanced by new connections to allow tourism visits without cars, which means avoiding the need for car parking to be provided in the first place.
There is very much the risk that in a rush to accomodate tourism, Northumberland could lose it’s very appeal by being paved over for parking, when realistic alternatives are very much available.
The Invest East Coast group of cross-party local authorities sets out the case for continued investment in this route, with 1/3 of the UK population within 20 minutes of an ECML station, and the route corridor accounting for 47% of the UK’S economic output.
Some of the plans are already in place, for example the connecting bus to Chathill station announced recently is a very welcome step forward, but two trains a day is still a fairly poor service when an hourly service was proven possible.
New stations at Belford, to serve major attractions such as Bamburgh, voted the Best Seaside Destination in the UK for four years running, and Beal, again with this station serving a potential market of 800,000 who visit Lindisfarne (Holy Island) each year, could all help to drive car-free or even cae-light tourism on the beautiful Northumberland Coast.
Reconnecting the Aln Valley Railway to Alnmouth (for Alnwick) station would similarly give the town of Alnwick, home to Alnwick Castle (350,000 visitors a year), The Alnwick Garden & Lilidorei (working towards 8 million visitors with the Garden passing 7 million in 2022), the highly popular Barter Books and many more smaller attractions improved access, which could be boosted in the shorter term by a dedicated bus link similar to the Northumberland Line. The Arriva X15 is touted as part of the existing ‘Bus Meets Train’ branding, but this could be made even better for such a popular tourist town in Northumberland?
The Northumberland Coast Loop could very much play a part in this: the Port of Tyne recently announced the 25th anniversary of the cruise terminal, with a record of 61 ships bringing 164,000 visitors to the port for onward destinations; why not use rail to get tourists to their destinations quickly and comfortably?
The soon to be completed Northumberland Park station would be the nearest mainline station to the dock, and could offer direct connections to destinations in Northumberland to both the north and the west along the East Coast Main Line (ECML) and Tyne Valley Line respectively, as well as allowing travel from populated urban centres like SE Northumberland and North Tyneside to directly travel to North Northumberland too.
If you’d like to support the Northumberland Coast Loop, please do so via the petition here, already signed by 681 at the time of writing.
Let Northumberland not mirror the mistakes made in the Lake District and make better use of the public transport network.
The Northumberland Coast Loop 