This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Back of garden left a mess by network rail
Amphibios
Posts: 158
Hi All,
In June we completed on a house that has a railway line running along the back of it.
Part of the garden had been partitioned off - Network Rail had been using it as part of the crossrail project.
In the interest of brevity - we completed on the property in June with the understanding that the project would be ending in a few months but with little details from the vendor.
I contacted network rail from the day we completed but have little communication about when and what would happen. They have also not taken on board any more of my opinions on what state I would like the back of my garden returned to me.
This has resulted in the back part of my garden being a layer of low grade rubble/?sand to the level of the rest of my garden. On top of this they have placed some topsoil which now also covers a concreted area I was planning to put a shed on.
What should I do?
1) The garden is clay soil, my neighbours tell me that some of their back gardens flood because the railway bank is higher than our gardens. Have network rail done me a favour by putting in well draining rubble soil? Should I use the higher level topsoil to make raised planters? I was planning to grow vegetables there (north facing garden - back gets more sun).
2) continue to pester crossrail to ensure that the garden is level and that I have at least 40cm (min to grow vegetable?) of topsoil at the back? I have never had a garden before and I’m so excited about gardening for the first time. But I don’t have a clue and I know I’d benefit from gardeners with a lot more experience who can foresee potential pitfalls. However they keep telling me the project has finished and that the decisions have already been made by the previous owner and I don’t have any say to what is returned to me.
Many Thanks for your time
A
In June we completed on a house that has a railway line running along the back of it.
Part of the garden had been partitioned off - Network Rail had been using it as part of the crossrail project.
In the interest of brevity - we completed on the property in June with the understanding that the project would be ending in a few months but with little details from the vendor.
I contacted network rail from the day we completed but have little communication about when and what would happen. They have also not taken on board any more of my opinions on what state I would like the back of my garden returned to me.
This has resulted in the back part of my garden being a layer of low grade rubble/?sand to the level of the rest of my garden. On top of this they have placed some topsoil which now also covers a concreted area I was planning to put a shed on.
What should I do?
1) The garden is clay soil, my neighbours tell me that some of their back gardens flood because the railway bank is higher than our gardens. Have network rail done me a favour by putting in well draining rubble soil? Should I use the higher level topsoil to make raised planters? I was planning to grow vegetables there (north facing garden - back gets more sun).
2) continue to pester crossrail to ensure that the garden is level and that I have at least 40cm (min to grow vegetable?) of topsoil at the back? I have never had a garden before and I’m so excited about gardening for the first time. But I don’t have a clue and I know I’d benefit from gardeners with a lot more experience who can foresee potential pitfalls. However they keep telling me the project has finished and that the decisions have already been made by the previous owner and I don’t have any say to what is returned to me.
Many Thanks for your time
A
0
Posts
You can also contact the Citizen's Advice Bureau for advice but I'd have thought a polite but firm letter to the head of Network Rail about their work would be a good place to start. A brief history of events and your dissatisfaction should be enough but do give them a time limit to reply to your satisfaction or they'll delay and postpone for years.
On the other hand, if it has all been done in agreement with the previous owners yu haven't much of a leg to stand on. Having free draining rubble may well be a boon if neighbours' gardens get flooded. You could decide to build raised beds on this area and add extra topsoil to deepen the available root growing area and grow ornamental plants or fruit and veg according to preference. You could also fill said raised beds with soil you shift to put the shed on the concrete base.
Maybe the best thing is to make the most of what you have and work out what you want from your garden. We can help with that if you tell us about where you are, which way the garden faces, what kind of soil you have anwhether you want the garden for relaxation, play, food, colour deending on your age and family composition and available time.
secondly, once you know what you're going to have, you can make a garden. It's always possible. You'll need to work with the constraints, so you need to make a plan. Soil on top of solid concrete is not useful. So your thought to have a shed where there is a concrete base is a good one. Soil over hardcore rubble is Ok, especially if it's sunny in that part of the garden? Quite a lot of plants will grow in those conditions.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
In the sticks near Peterborough
When I was in the process of buying the partitioned land I knew it was part of the garden according to the land registry, I just assumed that they would return ‘garden’ with a decent level of soil.
I guess the main thing that I’m asking is that is it a huge pain that one of the sunniest parts of the garden (north facing) does not have a decent layer of topsoil?
Or have they done me a favour because it’s clay soil that gets a lot of water run off from the adjacent railway bank (which is higher than the back of my garden).
I don’t know whether I’m being silly to not push network rail further.
Either way I’m excited about planning the garden with the help of the forum.
Because I haven’t lived there long I don’t know whether the back got boggy or not. What the best areas of the garden are for planting etc etc.
Y’all can’t also predict the future so I will get on and plan the garden and contact network rail if I run into an egregious problem.
Thanks to everyone for your perspectives but do let me know if you think I’m missing something
A x
You mention growing veg there.. I would put in some noise reducing hedging and also as a visual block. These could also help to soak up any extra water/rain there.