What now you ask?

At the Local Committee back in 2021 Councillors agreed that the Definitive Statement should be changed to match the Definitive Map so that it showed the Crossing as a Public Right of Way. It has been so for decades going back to even before the railway was built in the 19th Century. Good news I hear you say.

Yes it was, but despite that ruling the decision still had to be put out to public consultation where everyone and anyone had the right to object to the decision. Delays, allegedly caused by Covid, meant that Surrey County Council's Legal Department did not issue the Notice until earlier this year with a deadline for comment this month.

We now hear that there has been one objection from Network Rail. The Council cannot confirm the Order itself and must now refer it to the Secretary of State for determination. It has a duty to do this. The Order will now enter a existing queue of Orders already waiting to be referred. It could well be 18 months before the significant staff time resources required can be found to prepare a statement of case and it can be well over 12 months for the Inspectorate to determine how it will decide the Order and then to hold an inquiry (or other) and issue a decision.

And so it goes on.................................