Readers' Letters

SIR - On behalf of the SELRAP executive committee, can I please reply to the points made by Robert Foster in his letter of March 1 (‘Not so fast on the rail route excitement’).

All of the physical obstructions which he cites as being “impossible’’ to overcome - which include the Skipton bypass, Earby and Vivary Way in Colne - have all been studied by both consultant engineers and major contractors. These organisations have confirmed that there are actually very simple engineering solutions to all of these “supposedly insurmountable’’ challenges.

The scale and scope of the civil engineering required for the Skipton to Colne re-opening project is far less significant than the work which was required to rebuild the far more challenging Scottish Borders 30- mile rail line re-opened by Queen Elizabeth II just 18 months ago.

Robert Foster is fundamentally correct with his comment that most new passenger services on the new line will be local journeys. SELRAP’s proposal is to extend the highly successful Airedale line the short distance from Skipton into East Lancashire so that in the future these fast and modern trains will terminate in Burnley.

It has always seemed an anomaly to SELRAP and others that the Airedale rail service stops just 12 miles short of the major conurbation that is East Lancashire where 200,000 people live. This project will bring them within one hour of travel time to Leeds. Therefore there are more than enough potential passengers to justify rebuilding and re-opening the line.

SELRAP is not “woefully ignorant’’ of the economics of rail operations. We are now working with many of the key UK rail players, all of whom support this project.

I can assure Robert that there is considerable interest in providing a new East to West strategic route across the Pennines.

In fact all of the alternative rail routes which he names as being suitable alternatives are in fact jammed solid with trains already. Quite simply these other trans-Pennine routes are themselves operating at full capacity.

Various comments included in this letter also cast doubt on the business case for re-opening the Skipton to Colne rail line.

However, your correspondent overlooks the one key fact and this is that Skipton, with a population of less than 20,000 people today, manages to sustain and indeed pay for its fast and frequent train service.

This town generated over one million rail passenger journeys through its station during 2017.

The business case underpinning the Skipton to Colne project is very simple. People will pay to use fast, modern and sustainable train services and especially ones which transport them quickly and comfortably straight into Yorkshire’s main city centres.

SELRAP’s aim is to replicate this success story in East Lancashire.

Your letter writer should also consider the fact that ministers of state, senior civil servants and the chief executives of several major businesses are not in the habit of supporting “fly by night schemes’’.

Their support came on the back of many months of detailed study work by SELRAP and its partners.

As the Craven Herald’s recent editorial said, we have been working quietly behind the scenes to build up the business case

The ministerial announcement at Colne in February was proof that the key principles of rebuilding this line have now been established.

Jane Wood, SELRAP, Barnoldswick

So, will services from council get better?

SIR - Would you kindly allow me to air my views on the recent decision by North Yorkshire County Council and Craven District Council to increase the council tax by 4.99 %, like some discount offer, avoiding the 5% ‘perception’ barrier. They must think we are daft.

Its is astonishing that Conservative local authorities - Craven District and North Yorkshire - have voted for an above-inflation rise in local Council Tax, for no clear policy or service delivery priorities to improve public services.

Could it be that this tax rise will ultimately end up in the profits of privatised public service providers, for example in so-called social care - the Tories’ friends?

Local elections in May will provide a timely opportunity for all decent people to send a clear message to all councils, and this excuse of a Government, propped up by religious fanatics, on the sheer hypocrisy of such action.

James J Paton, Milton Street, Skipton

Higher council tax and less of a service

SIR - Through your columns, I would like to congratulate Craven District Council on their sense of timing.

In the week of the announcement of the 6% increase in Council Tax, our bins have not been emptied and, at the time of writing, there has not been any sight of a snowplough or gritting on our estate.

While the main roads have been cleared for cars, it is no use if you can’t get to the road.

Anybody with walking difficulties, a pushchair or mobility scooter is struggling on the pavements.

Phil Corp, Rowan Garth, Sutton in Craven

Beasts from the East, pests from the West...

SIR - It’s a good job this weather system is from the east, the Pest from the West would not have had quite the same impact, would it?

Paul Morley, Ribblesdale Estate, Long Preston