Devonport hits the Top Ten

"young people think it is fun to play 'chicken' with a 200 tonne train ” dbg elsewhere Numbers 20000000 Faceoff: Maternal

There’s a bit of a rail theme with my postings this week, catching up on some of the news over the past week or so. Devonport Station, pictured above, has hit the top ten - but sadly its not a position it can be proud of. Network Rail has announced the top ten regional hotspots for railway crime in 2008, and Devonport comes in at number 10. Link "We are working hard to tackle the most dangerous crimes where young people think it is fun to play 'chicken' with a 200 tonne train going at 100mph or place objects on the line, which could have catastrophic consequences." I guess that being in a cutting, and hidden from view from main roads its its quite vulnerable to railway crime. Although overlooked from the road bridge, its not exactly a busy road. I guess there is cctv etc covering the area, but catching people in the act is not that easy. Its not all bad news for our local railway stations though, as tomorrows post will point out!

Changes Part 3

The third in out series of changes of the Plymothian Landscape as seen from above covers the South Yard redevelopment of Devonport where a large section of former MOD property is returned to civilian use.

Here in the Microsoft image we see the South Yard section as it was before any of the redevelopment has started. All the old dockyard buildings are still present. The old dockyard walls are still in place.

Google Maps gives us a much clearer image but you can still see little has changed which is a big contract to our next image...

In the very latest image from Google Earth we can get a much better view of the scale of the redevelopment. Almost the whole site has been cleared although much of the outside walls are still in place. This is for construction site security. There is one small new building on the top right hand side of the site which is in use as a development office and viewing area where you can get a better idea of the development. It will be interesting to see the next image update for this area!

From the web site:

Plans for the site include the provision of over 450 high-quality homes, a community healthcare centre, new supermarket and shops, offices and managed workspace.  The historic Market Hall building will be retained and key areas have been allocated as public open space.

Plymouth data has a page for this site here which is well worth a look.

South Yard

© Google Earth

The area in the centre of this photo has been due to be opened up after years of MOD use. The latest news is that part of the wall around the site will be coming down very shortly and that work has already started on the development of the site. This area is is rapidly changing after years of neglect. It is currently served by Citybus route 34 with the new Enviro singledeckers. A ride on this route will still show a lot of evidence of the neglect of this area - it will also show a lot of construction work as the area gets rebuilt. It is certainly good to see large areas of Plymouth being returned to the locals after it was taken over by the dockyard.

Evans Transport

Another photo I managed to get yesterday was this very smart MAN of Evans Transport. I have always been impressed by this fleet as its always very well turned out in this smart, distinctive livery.

Other stuff that has caught my eye tonight:

This is Plymouth 12:00 - 05 January 2006
Plans for a £70million development at the walled-in former Devonport Dockyard stores enclave have been given the go-ahead by councillors.The development, which includes 463 new homes together with shops, businesses and community facilities, is set to transform the old heart of Devonport, which was destroyed in the Blitz. Once the post-war naval buildings are flattened, the area will undergo a £70 million redevelopment which will once again see surrounding Cumberland Street and Fore Street running through it.A third 'historic' road will be recreated too, when Tavistock Street is rebuilt.Two other streets will be created through the yard under a plan which EP said "follows, very approximately, the route of former street patterns".
More news here.
I will be watching out for this as its a very interesting development indeed. I will be looking out for a few photos I have of this general area. Its certainly good news for this run down area of Plymouth.






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