New Neighbours on The Sidings

To the south of the water tower is a light industrial estate, built on the former railway sidings associated with Settle station.   The industrial estate was built around 1984 when the Settle-Carlisle railway was expected to close for ever.   Seemed like a good idea at the time but the reprieve of the railway from closure in 1989 made a nonsense of it.

The industrial units are still here and some flourishing and varied businesses operate from them.   Had things been otherwise The Sidings would have made an exceedingly useful car and coach park for the railway.

Recent happenings, not least our Water Tower's restoration and adaptation to residential use, are changing the nature of this end of The Sidings.   The process continues with the building of an apartment block on the Sidings embankment adjacent to us:

click to enlarge

Trees presently cover much of the site and these are to be removed on Friday.

The design is imaginative, making best use of a seemingly impossible site.   It respects the railway location, is to be made of stone with a slate roof.   Windows and doors must be painted in Midland Railway colours.

Here is the site at present - none too lovely but full of promise:

Our solar panels on the navvy hut (left) will benefit greatly from the removal of those trees.