Council agrees to quashing of lawful development certificate for Dad’s Army railway station building

A district council has consented to the quashing of a lawful development certificate it issued in relation to a railway station building used in the filming of Dad’s Army.

SAVE Britain’s Heritage launched judicial review proceedings over Breckland District Council’s decision to allow the demolition of the 1845 station building at Brandon on the Cambridge to Norwich line.

The local authority had issued the certificate to Greater Anglia, allowing it to construct a new car park under the railway permitted development rights.

Breckland reportedly accepted that it had failed to apply the legal test for what was railway land and overlooked SAVE’s representations.

In its response to the legal challenge the council consented to the quashing of the certificate. Greater Anglia did not resist the Court order. 

SAVE said it would now work with the Suffolk Building Preservation Trust on new plans for repairing the station and bringing it back to use. A listing application has also been submitted to Historic England.

Susan Ring of Harrison Grant and Richard Harwood QC of 39 Essex Chambers acted for SAVE.

Marcus Binney, executive president of SAVE Britain’s Heritage said: “This shows that determination, persistence and resourcefulness can bring back historic buildings on death row.

“Many local people objected passionately to the demolition proposal, and some thought it was a lost cause. Now we have an opportunity for it to live again after standing boarded up for 16 years.”