FOLLOWING last week's Review report that Monmouth MP David Davies was concerned about the Troy viaduct and had no replies to inquiries, its owner has responded by criticising the local authority for not allowing a development to go ahead.

Stephen Weeks, the founder and director of Monumental Trust Ltd, writing from Prague, says that in 1989 Monmouth Troy viaduct was to be demolished by its then owners, British Rail Property Board.

"I thought that the viaduct was a magnificent structure, worthy of retention, especially as it was not protected by Historic Monuments protection," he says.

"That demolition was to cost £87,000. The viaduct was then in very bad condition, and my team, which included a structural engineer, worked out that for around £100,000 GBP the viaduct could be made safe and stable."

Mr Weeks said that included rebuilding of one whole arch, and almost total rebuilding of one other – plus a quanitity of smaller stonework repairs, and measures to prevent rain penetrating the barrels of the arches – which had been a defect of the original design.

"In 1990-91, having acquired the viaduct on the basis that the sum allocated for demolition would be used for repairs (but clearly not for future maintenance), the programme of repair was implemented, the other money being put in by Monumental.

"But such a structure, in order to fund maintenance if nothing else, had to have some kind of use. We therefore drew up a project, and raised the necessary money for implementation, for a scheme to put a train on the viaduct composed of a reproduction steam engine and original passenger carriages.

"The carriages would be interesting self-catering holiday accommodation, suitable for families, with wonderful views. The operation of the scheme would strictly allow for nothing else on the viaduct but the train on a length of track – ie no other structures or creeping expansion.

"Simon Jenkins, writing in The Times, thought that the idea deserved a Nobel Prize for lateral thinking. Certainly, the scheme would have generated enough income to provide for the continual maintenance of the viaduct, as well as providing a pleasurable walkway for local residents.

"However, the local planning committee thought otherwise, despite the proposal being within the permitted uses (ie for tourism) in the area, and it involving no new buildings as such. It was made clear in the planning application that this was probably the only use which could provide for the future of the structure.

"Since I have been involved in conservation actively since 1965, when I managed to halt the demolition of an historic building in Gosport, Hampshire when I was 16, I have been able to see attitudes change from public apathy, through to active encouragement and now to a situation where people complain about almost anything on the basis that proposals involve 'change'.

"They ignore the fact that without the change necessarily involved in conservation itself and re-use, the buildings or structures will of their own accord change – by falling into dangerous ruin!

"In 2003 I moved to Prague to undertake conservation work on a series of very neglected buildings, but I have been available through Monumental ever since, and we have been negotiating with Sustrans for a cycleway passing near to the viaduct, while at the same time trying to find a solution to preventing the viaduct from becoming a danger to trespassers – despite expensive gates which were installed in 1991 and which, I understand, have been damaged or removed.

"Even the small brick trackside hut which we had rebuilt on the old Troy Station site has been almost totally destroyed by vandals, which is really disheartening to me and my associates."

There has also been a complication, he says, which allowed another party to gain a possession order over the viaduct. Monumental found itself unable to defend itself in expensive litigation, he said, but is preparing a case to have the order reversed.

"It is in the anticipation of these events, that I have been engaged in safety and other proposals for the Monmouth site, which will result, I hope, in the cycleway (which will run across the girder bridge, not in the ownership of Monumental).

"My conservation work is unpaid. My income comes from writing and film-making. It is therefore with displeasure that I turn to the Monmouth Troy problem, knowing that a solution was beautifully prepared, with all the circumstances right, and that the people of Monmouth, through its elected representatives, turned it down."