T'is true, he owns the land and had to approve the plans. Which is why the new Admin/Domestic build wasn't the usual cheap stuff. In fact, he owns most of Northumberland!
Which explains why the orders state that the Percy hunt has to allowed on to the site. The MOD must be breathing a sigh of relief with the banning of fox hunting.
It also explains why Alnmouth station is still open and Inter City trains go King's Cross-York-Newcastle-Alnmouth-Edinburgh.
When they built the line through Northumberland the then Duke agreed to allow it on his land if he got a station and that a set number of trains to/from London had to stop there each day. (I'm not sure if it was always Alnmouth or whether it took over from Alnwick when it closed).
During Beeching's cuts they tried to stop them, and the Duke told them if they did they'd have to close the East Coast line. They fought it - and lost.
