A parish councillor is calling on highway authorities to improve roads around Cross Hills before considering whether to resurrect a railway line linking Colne to Skipton.

Campaigners, including pressure group SELRAP (the Skipton East Lancashire Railway Action Partnership), believe connecting Colne to Skipton via an old railway link would boost East Lancashire’s economy at a relatively modest cost.

Lancashire County Council chiefs say the cost to reopen the line for trains would approach £80 million.

But Coun Roger Nicholson, chairman of Glusburn and Cross Hills Parish Council, said: “We shouldn’t be talking about railways until the highway authorities look at the roads first.”

He said traffic through Cross Hills was already a big problem and could worsen if the situation was not dealt with.

“My main concern is the volume of HGVs going through our village,” he said. “At the moment, our roads can’t cope with it. We’re continually fighting to find a way to ease the problems.”

He said one of the previously proposed ways of easing congestion on the A6068 was the development of an Aire Valley corridor (Glusburn bypass) to Colne.

Another proposal was to build a bypass for the A56 from Colne, past Lancashire villages Foulridge, Kelbrook and Earby and through Thornton-in-Craven in North Yorkshire.

Coun Philip Barrett, a local county, district and parish councillor, said while the chances were slim of a Glusburn bypass being approved, a bypass for the A56 was still a possibility.

“There was quite a lot of opposition to the Glusburn bypass, so it was dropped from the county’s plan,” said Coun Barrett.

“Although local bypass schemes have gone out of favour with the Government, the bypass in East Lancashire has been on the cards for a long time and it’s time that people living in the villages along there are asked about a railway or a bypass.

“It’s all right for local MPs to jump on the ‘green wagon’ to support the railway, but you have to think about it realistically and everything has to be taken into account.

“Finance is a big thing and road infrastructure doesn’t seem to rank on the one-item agenda of pressure group SELRAP.

“The potential reinstatement of that line will have a negligible influence on improvement of traffic in South Craven. For all intents and purposes, the A6068 is an HGV route. It’s a quicker rat-run for HGVs coming from the M65 and it’s flatter than the A56.”

David Curry, MP for Skipton and Ripon, said the railway and highways issues were separate.

“I’ve supported the railway from the beginning, but there are still serious questions about it. We have to ask how important is it to Lancashire and Yorkshire?

“It’s going to cost £40 million at its most modest. It’s a big-ticket item and one that’s not going to be delivered quickly.

“The railway link would only get built if it was going to have a positive impact on economic development.

“SELRAP have made a valiant attempt to get that argument across. They’re not just a bunch of trainspotters, they are serious people.”

Mr Curry said whether to build a railway link or build a bypass was a dilemma facing both Lancashire and North Yorkshire County Councils which would have to decide their priorities.