On Wednesday, I hosted a meeting in Westminster with the Skipton East Lancs Rail Action Partnership, or SELRAP, campaign who are pushing for the reopening of the train line from Colne to Skipton. I have been a Patron of SELRAP ever since first being elected in 2010 and have spoken in Parliament on numerous occasions to support the campaign, including leading a debate on this topic in April.
The meeting on Wednesday, brought together representatives of Lancashire County Council, North Yorkshire County Council, the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Network Rail, Transport for the North and other bodies to discuss the potential reopening. Reopening the train line to Skipton would better connect Pendle to North Yorkshire, the East of the country in general including our ports, and make it possible to commute to work in places like Leeds.
Reopening the line has widespread support, but for it to happen, we need our local transport authorities to get behind it and critically a new body called Transport for the North to recommend the scheme in their strategic plan for our railway network due out next year. The meeting on Wednesday was really encouraging, because representatives of Transport for the North, were able to hear expressions of support from all the local authorities, Network Rail and major businesses like the Skipton Building Society who employ 1,500 in Skipton.
This is all really good news and builds on what I said in the Parliamentary debate I led on this topic in April, which got a very positive response from the Rail Minister. Following the meeting, I met with the Rail Minister Paul Maynard to discuss options for fast tracking the re-opening of the rail line and am encouraged the scheme continues to have his support.
Reinstating the line would cost in excess of £100million and would take a number of years to construct, but as I have argued before it really is a no-brainer in terms of the economic boost it would provide to Pendle and the wider area. Thanks to the tireless work of SELRAP over the years, the case for re-opening has been well made, we just need to keep up the pressure on different stakeholders and central government to fund the scheme. You can rest assured that in the coming weeks and months I’ll be doing exactly that.