Green powder coated fencing, as proposed by Network Rail for Moray Place

The saga of Network Rail’s attempt to erect a prison style weldmesh security fence along the length of Moray Place continues. In September the Society wrote to Niamh Hegarty, Senior Public Affairs Manager at Network Rail Scotland, expressing two main concerns, firstly that security fencing was wholly inappropriate, being in a conservation area, and directly in front of residents’ homes, and secondly that Network Rail insisted the fence would be on their boundary, but that they didn’t know where that was. Their assumption that it is the bow topped metal fence on the kerb is, in our view, incorrect. We provided historical evidence to support this in our letter. The letter is included here for your information.

15 09 09 Network Rail Letter.

Network Rail have finally replied, suggesting concessions on the design of the fence would be costly, and that they still intend to place the fence on the road edge. They claim to provide evidence to back this up, and are mildly threatening about residents’ counter claims, suggesting the residents’ official land registry entries are trumped by their in-house map. We, on the other hand, note the land registry entries are representative only, and the true boundary is set further back from the road in a single straight line.

15 11 06 Letter to Strathbungo Society. Click to read Network Rail’s reply. Their supporting evidence appears below.

Strathbungo Disposition 1858. This 1858 Disposition describes the land they own, but contains little detail.

This is an extract from the map in the disposition detailing their boundary in Strathbungo. Accurate, isn’t it? Compare with the maps in our letter above, which they have ignored.

Map on which they base their claim to knowing the exact location of their boundary

Network Rail Modern Map. This document was submitted to us earlier in the year showing Network Rail’s operational map shaded blue. The red boxes are land registry entries for the houses on Moray Place. They now submit it as their land claim, but note that it is their map, and not an official land registry excerpt.

Network Rail have not specified the fencing they intend to use, not set a date for a future meeting. The Society will be meeting shortly to consider how we respond, and we will keep you informed.

Happy reading. If you want to send private comment back to the Society, and / or want us to keep in touch, complete the form here. More general comments for the blog can go in the comments box further down.

Andrew