PM refuses to commit to re-open Colne-Skipton railway but ‘funds …
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak refused to commit to re-opening a railway line linking Lancashire and Yorkshire over the Pennines. The Colne[1]-Skipton railway line used to link Lancashire[2] and Yorkshire[3] until the old section was closed over fifty years ago. Today, the Lancashire-side of the line ends at Colne and is only a single line along a considerable stretch which further restricts capacity for train services.
During a visit to Colne yesterday (April 15) the PM was quizzed by local journalists on a variety of issues including the investigation into Blackpool[4] South MP Scott Benton, child poverty and the possibility of changing the law to force criminals to face justice and attend sentencing hearings. Mr Sunak, who travelled to Lancashire by train, was also asked about the Colne-Skipton railway line. Pendle[5] MP, Conservative Andrew Stephenson, is among those who have called for the line to be re-opened.
Campaigners believe it will tackle deprivation in East Lancashire as well as improving transport[6] links for those commuting while Pendle councillors have said its re-opening would be a "game changer". During his session with reporters, Mr Sunak was asked by BBC[7] Radio Lancashire reporter Mike Stevens about the link between Colne and Skipton, which is just 10 miles down the road. The political correspondent asked: "To get there by train it takes three and-a-half hours and three different trains.
"Can you commit, right here right now, to re-opening the Colne to Skipton railway?" The PM side-stepped the question and failed to give a definitive answer but said: "I know that this is something that Andy [Stephenson] in particular has been talking about for a long time and campaigning. Look, what I can tell you, because it's hard for me to talk about individual schemes as you can imagine, is that we are investing record sums in rail, particularly across the north.
"As part of that we've got something called Restoring Your Railways Fund and that fund is designed to help re-open lines that may have been closed in the past and that fund is already making a difference around the country, famously the Ashington to Blyth line on the other side of the Pennines, so the funding is there for things like this and I know that Andy will continue to champion it."
Artist's impression of a new station at Earby or Colne. Shown at Colne meeting March 2023
The government's GBP500 million Restoring Your Railways Fund, launched in 2020, aims to reconnect communities since the railways were radically reshaped during the infamous Beeching cuts of the 1960s when thousands of miles of both track and stations were closed.
The Skipton East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership is spearheading the campaign to re-open the line which it claims will "allow passengers from East Lancashire to travel directly into Leeds in less than 60 minutes".
The campaign has already received support from Arriva Northern Trains and Skipton Building Society, who both recognise that it will open up employment[8], educational and leisure opportunities throughout Lancashire and Yorkshire.