Newmarket's Weatherby rail crossing backed by Suffolk County Council

Campaigners battling to keep Newmarket’s much-used railway foot crossing open have won county council backing to have it recognised as a public footpath.

Members of Suffolk County Council’s development and regulation committee agreed on Tuesday to back an application by town resident Michael Smy to add a public footpath to the Newmarket map which would link Granary Road with Cricket Field Road by the Weatherby rail crossing.

Newmarket county councillor Rachel Hood, a member of the committee, backed the application, which was also supported by the town council and Newmarket Ramblers but opposed by Network Rail.

After the meeting, Mr Smy said the result was ‘very positive’. “It establishes the right of the public to cross,” he said.

The county’s definitive map officer David Last said: “Agreement of the recommendation authorises us to make the order which will then be advertised.

"If there are then any objections it will be taken out of our hands and passed to the planning inspectorate to determine. By agreeing the recommendation, councillors believed there was sufficient evidence for the order to be made.”