Lavender Line - Closure

Closure

As early as 1964 BR was aware of planned road works in and around the Lewes area, in which a bypass (Phases 1, 2 & 3) around Lewes was planned; as part of this the building of the Phoenix Causeway (Phase 1) would mean that a section of the Lewes to Uckfield railway line was in the way – requiring either a level crossing or a road bridge. BR therefore applied for an Act of Parliament to reinstate the Hamsey loop. Curiously in 1966 the local TUCC received notification from BR that the line from Lewes to Hurst Green Junction was to close in its entirety. The reason for this was that the line was one of those slated for closure in the first Beeching report published in 1963, listing it as an unremunerative line.

Opposition from the many railway travellers resulted. Their case was centred around the fact that a motorway costing formula was used to prove that the users would waste some £750,000 in excess travel compared to BR's calculated loss of only £260,000. In the end the TUCC upheld the users' complaints; but it was not going to stop there. In early 1968 BR made another attempt to close the line. This time the Transport Minister, Mrs Barbara Castle, requested more information from BR, which was furnished to her successor, Richard Marsh, who took over as Transport Minister in April 1968. At this time structural problems with the bridge over Cliffe High Street in Lewes were identified, which necessitated single line working, with a revised timetable in place to reflect this.

From the information requested by his predecessor, and of all the scenarios that were examined by the Minister, he agreed in August 1968 to the closure of the Lewes to Uckfield section of line. But the resultant row over the severing of what was a very important rail link began. Considerable opposition from the users centred, in the first instance, around the inadequate replacement bus service – which had Ministerial approval. The issue was resolved by the Transport Commissioners who, on examination of all the complaints from the users and undertaking the journey themselves, upheld the users' complaints. However concerns over the state of the bridge over Cliffe High Street remained and finally the BR Chief Civil Engineer declared the bridge unsafe. This meant the cessation of rail services along this section of line, with a replacement bus service in place. All of these actions resulted in the delaying of the closure from January 1969 to May 1969.

Now what is not widely known is that in late 1968 BR made application to close the remaining section of the line, from Uckfield to Hurst Green Junction. This was refused in January 1969 by the Minister as the line was of a social need, and in accordance with Section 39 of the Transport Act 1968 as subsidy could be paid with Treasury approval for a three-year period.

Interestingly the subsequent sale of the track bed was postponed following the prospect of a number of schemes to re-open the closed section of the line. But they were all unsuccessful, and it is for this reason that it took 15 years for the railway to become available to private buyers. Even so, certain covenants have been inserted into the deeds stating that there is to be no building on this land and it can be compulsorily purchased back should the need arise to reinstate the line.