TRACKSIDE residents have dipped into their own pockets to protect their homes after Oxford City Council ducked out of a legal battle with Network Rail over installing Silent Track through North Oxford.

A campaign, launched earlier this week to raise £30,000 to explore the possibility of a judicial review into the matter, has seen residents from North Oxford, Wolvercote and other parts of the city raise more than £10,000 in just 48 hours.

Earlier this month the city council approved Network Rail's planning application to drop conditions, including the installation of Silent Track despite previously pledging to fight the rail firm on the issue.

Campaign organiser Patricia Grylls, who lives near the railway in Wolvercote, said: "After two or three years of saying they would fight this to the death they have caved in, in a rather hopeless manner.

"We have been dismayed over the past few years at how the conditions - to protect us from noise and vibration - have been chipped down and whittled away to be meaningless.

She added: "I know the council had its hands tied but it did have some powers to stop Network Rail and it hasn't done enough.

"We will be taking this to Whitehall and central Government – we need to show them that sleepless nights and loss of open space are not of no consequence."

The campaign will also petition the Secretary for State to review its noise and vibration mitigation policy, which, it says, is based on 'out-of-date' predicted levels of future train traffic through Oxford.

It comes after the city council's planning review committee accepted advice from its own lawyers and Queen's Counsel that there was 'no legal basis' to impose conditions on train numbers and the installation of Silent Track.

Planning officers also warned it would be a costly appeal process.

The move overturned a decision made by the west area planning committee, which required the firm to use rail damping.

Wolvercote resident and former city councillor Mike Gotch said residents felt 'let down' by the council's actions.

He said: "The city council have managed to take away all the conditions, approved by government ministers, including train numbers and Silent Track.

"Residents are up in arms about this and feel very much let down by the council, whose job it is to look after the interests of residents - they have let Network Rail ride roughshod through the area.

"The residents are now having to take on the fight and we feel strongly that further action should be taken - a positive outcome could protect communities nationwide in the future, especially with HS2 looming large'.

The £10,000 will pay for legal advice from a experienced barrister specialising in railway and planning matters.

If the legal advice finds the residents have a strong case then a further £20,000 will be needed by the end of April.

Oxford City Council's board member for planning Alex Hollingsworth said its decision was taken following legal advice from a Queen's Counsel barrister.

He said: "As the local planning authority the Council’s task is to make balanced judgements based on the law and evidence.

"Our powers and duties in this case are limited to those set out in the deemed planning permission given by the Secretary of State for Transport in October 2012.

He added: "Legal advice was obtained from the Council’s own lawyers and Queen’s Counsel.

"It showed that the planning permission for East West Rail Phase 1, granted by the Secretary of State for Transport, could not be used to force Network Rail to use ”Silent Track” or other rail damping measures, nor to limit the number of trains using the new railway."

Spokesman for Network Rail, Jon Crampton, said: "Having established rail dampening would not represent value for taxpayers’ money, we believe this is the right decision."