RAILWAY enthusiasts are preparing for a planning battle with the owner of the Epping-Ongar railway and its plans to build housing on part of the Ongar Station site.

Ongar Railway Preservation Society chairman John Glover has reiterated the society's aim to safeguard the line's future and, speaking at the society's annual general meeting, confirmed the society had objected to Epping-Ongar Railway Ltd's planning application.

The company has submitted plans to Epping Forest District Council for residential development on part of the former goods yard at Ongar Station. The society is opposed because of the "adverse effect this would have on the line's viability as an operational railway".

Society secretary Bob Ayton said: "The society remains convinced EORL's real aim is the wholesale development of the entire railway and that the future of the line is not safe in the current owner's hands."

Mr Glover said it was only due to the society's efforts in raising the authorities' awareness to the situation surrounding the line that it had remained basically intact since its closure as part of the Central Line in September 1994. He promised the society would continue to strive for the long-term survival of the six-mile route.

The society, which runs Sunday tourist trains along the line to Coopersale and back to North Weald Station, is opposed to the loss to development of any land associated with the line. It has also objected to plans Transport for London plans for housing on land in its ownership along the Ongar High Street frontage.

Mr Ayton added: "The view emerging from the (annual general) meeting was that the outcome of these two applications would clearly be vital to the ultimate fate of the line and would determine how the society would continue its long term quest to acquire the railway."