Campaigners who want to turn a disused rail line into England’s largest cycle and pedestrian tunnel have challenged a government decision that would fill most of the historic structure in concrete.
The ministers have decided to spend several millions of pounds to permanently close the Queensbury tunnel, built in 1870 for a railway connecting Halifax to Keighley. Yorkshire, despite spending £7.2m to shore up the structure less than four years ago.
National Highways (NH), the agency in charge of maintaining the historic railway estate and responsible for maintenance, has received funding from the government for plans to fill the tunnel. This is for safety reasons.
The agency has been widely criticized for its previous actions. “cultural vandalism” Over the infilling Victorian bridges on railway estate. In 2023 it was forced to reverse burying in concrete a Victorian bridge Great Musgrave (Cumbria), on the route for a scheme that will join two heritage rail lines.
Tracy Brabin is the Mayor of West Yorkshire. She supported the calls for reopening the 1.4 mile tunnel, which was closed by the railways in 1956. Brabin has expressed her disappointment at the decision. Standing at the entrance to the tunnel in 2021, she spoke of plans for a underground railway. cycle path linking Bradford and Keighley to Halifax As a “great facility” for our community.
The campaigners said the government was “investing” in destruction and ignored the opinions of 8,000 planners who objected to the plan for the infill of the tunnel. Next week, they will meet Lilian Greenwood (Minister for the Future of Roads) to ask her to reverse this decision.
Greenwood wrote to the campaigners that converting tunnels for cycling was too expensive in the “challenging fiscal environment.” He also said “safety concerns need to be addressed.”
NH’s contractors estimate it would cost £26.4m to convert the tunnel. But campaigners have dismissed this figure as “gold-plated” and claim the tunnel could be brought back into use as a greenway for only £13.7m – not much more than the £7.2m spent to shore it up from 2018 to 2021 including at least £3.3m now required to infill the structure.
They also point to a study by the charity Sustrans published earlier this year which found the proposed route would generate £3 in social, economic and tourism benefits for every £1 spent on it.
Norah McWilliam said, “The government makes an investment in destruction, to satisfy the needs and narrow interests of a roads authority.” The community’s aspirations for positive outcomes from this wonderful historic asset are of no importance to these spreadsheet-shufflers.
She said: “These millions, along with the seven that were lost four years ago in a blackhole, could have been used to repair the tunnel and ensure its role as the core of an inspiring network of active travel – something Bradford West Yorkshire and Bradford could be proud off.”
Graeme Bickerdike, the engineering coordinator for the society, said: “The minister claims that her decision is based on a ‘full view of the facts’, but the evidence seems to have come exclusively from National Highways which has a proven track record for exaggerating risk, misrepresenting condition evidence and frittering away public funds.
The 2018-21 tunnel works have already reduced the risk profile, which was low to begin with.
Brabin shared the disappointment felt by the campaigners but she said that she could understand the decision of the government. She said, “To ensure the safety of everyone the government had acted quickly to secure this site. The realities of public finance meant that a difficult decision was needed.”
We remain committed to supporting alternative routes for walking and cycling between Bradford & Calderdale.
