VILLAGERS face an extra seven mile journey to their homes for months because of a planning dispute over a historic railway crossing.

Plumpton Green has been "cut in two" by the closure of the level crossing with no resolution in sight as rail authorities and villagers refuse to back down.

Lewes MP Maria Caulfield has called on Network Rail to re-open Station Road, which was closed for planned work to update the village’s historic railway crossing.

However those plans were thrown into disarray this week when Lewes District Council’s planning committee rejected the plans.

A Network Rail spokesman said they are “extremely disappointed” to have their plans to convert the 19th century crossing using 21st technology rejected.

Parish councillors are concerned that the closure could be extended for up to 18 months and have warned it is putting a strain on school bus services.

The planning application proposed the replacement of the existing crossing in Station Road with four barriers covering both sides of the road, and traffic lights.

The existing gates are linked to the village’s grade II listed 19th century signal box, which villagers say is the last of its kind in the county.

Network Rail had reached an agreement to donate the listed crossing gates and curtilage of the crossing to the East Kent Railway while the signal box would remain.

A risk assessment concluded that the crossing was “low risk” with no safety incidents in the past five years.

Sixty-seven letters of objection had been sent to the council ahead of Wednesday’s planning committee meeting but Historic England and council planning officers had said “an irreversible impact” was merited on the grounds of public benefit in replacing the unreliable gates. But the application was rejected by councillors.

Ms Caulfield said having the level crossing permanently closed would mean round trips of six to seven miles to simply get around the village.

She added: "It is vital that the road through Plumpton, which includes the level crossing, is opened straightaway.

“It is completely unreasonable to ask local people to undertake lengthy journeys to simply get around the village.”

A Network Rail spokesman said the £2million investment plan to replace the signaller-operated crossing with a new full barrier would have made the crossing 63% safer.

He added: “As it stands the level crossing will be closed until October 12, this was agreed as part of our original upgrade plan and would have allowed enough time for us to complete our work.

“However, as we need to change our plans and approach to the project it will now take more time, so we are now seeking an extension of that closure.

“Network Rail commissioned an independent study into the feasibility of upgrading the existing gates and it concluded that this was not a viable option."