I HAVE to declare an interest in Vic Plowman’s frustrated efforts to get his miniature trains on track.

Not because I have any link with his nursery, but because from a very early age, I was an avid trainspotter and the halcyon days of steam saw many a day spent at northern stations and shunting yards.

Even when we made annual trip down to Dorset six years on the trot during my childhood, my first demand was to be taken to Poole Park and whizzed around the lake by the wonderful engines (well, it felt fast to me at the age of six).

Mr Plowman clearly has supporters among his customers, but there’s nothing quite like retrospective planning applications to get planners’ and councillors’ hackles to rise and clearly there appears to be some way to go before a satisfactory solution is reached.

Without wishing to land my size 10 clodhoppers into the row, I hope youngsters will get the chance to ride on Mr Plowman’s rather magnificent steam engines for years to come.

I can sympathise with the local councillors, even council leader Spencer Flower, who does not understand the link between a garden centre and a steam railway.

It’s an interesting notion, even when you try to work out the link between a children’s play centre and a wonderful aviation museum less than half a mile away.