 A further Act of 1847 permitted the LNWR to lease the (unbuilt) Stour Valley Line.The LNWR embarked on a prolonged and underhand attack on the S&BR, which it saw as a competing line for Lancashire and Cheshire traffic that the LNWR wished to have exclusively.It purposely delayed completing the line, in order to disadvantage the S&BR, which it now saw as a competitor for traffic for the north west.