Dawlish News

TRANSPORT campaigners have called for an alternative to the Westcountry's vulnerable coastal rail track after the Government's warning on rising sea levels.

Train journeys past the crumbling Dawlish sea wall in South Devon on the region's mainline are routinely blighted by extreme storms and high tides.

Following predictions that sea levels in the Westcountry could rise by 40cm (16in) by the 2080s, commentators fear climate change could leave large swathes of the region cut off from the rest of the UK.

Neill Mitchell, a Plymouth-based independent regional transport analyst, has questioned whether the Government is willing to stand by statements last week that all major investment would have to take climate change into account.

Mr Mitchell, a former Downing Street official under Margaret Thatcher, claims ministers have broken similar promises made five years ago by ignoring the problem at the exposed rail track. He said: "We were told back then that the only place in the world which would not be subject to sea level rises would be Dawlish and that, therefore, there was no cause to commence the strategic planning of a new inland route for the Great Western main rail line.

"So, returning to the present, is [environment minister] Hilary Benn able to confirm that Dawlish will indeed not enjoy the protection of King Canute?

"In accordance with his new ministerial guidance to Government departments, the Transport Secretary Lord Adonis must now be obliged to accept the case for reinstating the route planning drawn up by the Great Western Railway Company in 1939. If not, then why not?"

Peter Mulley, secretary of campaign group Railfuture Devon and Cornwall, said: "We believe most emphatically there must be an alternative route. We have to find practical solutions to mitigate against the threat of climate change."

Last week, Met Office scientists predicted temperatures in the South West could rise by 3.9C (39F), rainfall in winter could increase 23 per cent and sea levels could rise by 40cm by the 2080s.

The UK Climate Projections 2009 was seized upon by ministers as evidence action must to be taken to cut global greenhouse gas emissions and tackle the impact of climate change.

Mr Benn said because emissions stay in the system for many years, the next three decades of climate change are already set.

As a result, all major investment from the Government would have to take climate change into account, while organisations such as Network Rail, National Grid and the Environment Agency should be obliged to tell the public what they were doing to plan for the changes.

The Great Western main line at Dawlish is widely viewed as being one of the most vulnerable on the network. It links Exeter and Plymouth, and is the only rail route onward into Cornwall. Network Rail has spent millions of pounds trying to shore up the line since October 2004, when some sea wall was last washed away in a storm.

A Department for Transport spokesman said the track was the responsibility of Network Rail, which was unavailable for comment. In April, Network Rail effectively ruled out a second rail route into the region as it unveiled plans to spend £35bn on improving the network nationwide.