CravenRail The newsletter for supporters of SELRAP: - the Skipton-East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership Issue 14 Conference edition 2010 “The Department for Transport has agreed to work with Pennine Lancashire partners to develop a process to take forward the Colne to Skipton Rail Reinstatement, through the Pennine Lancashire Multi Area Agreement” ..... Gordon Brown, Prime Minister And there is more. For, fast forwarding to the views expressed [below] by keynote speakers at SELRAP’s Autumn 2009 conference, it is clear that proposals to reopen the Skipton-Colne rail line are now flagged up by all the major political parties ..... Ed. “There are substantial benefits, it is clear, from reopening this [Skipton-Colne] portion of track. They are not only the direct benefits, but [also] the wider benefits”..... Stephen Hammond, Conservative Shadow Transport Minister “We have identified 14 lines which we think should be reopened without any further delay. You will not be surprised to learn that Colne-Skipton is in there!” ..... Norman Baker, Lib Dem Shadow Secretary of State for Transport CONFERENCE ‘09: • POLITICIANS • RAIL INDUSTRY • DEVELOPERS YES • PLANNERS to • CONSULTANTS RAIL LINK Skipton-East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership LINKING CITIES AND REGIONS ACROSS THE NORTH Patrons: Richard Bannister, Rt Revd Nicholas Reade. MPs David Curry, Gordon Prentice, Kitty Ussher, Nigel Evans, Anne McIntosh. MEPs Chris Davies, Jacqueline Foster, Timothy Kirkhope, Brian Simpson, Diana Wallis. 2 Being a conference edition you’d expect a reference to SELRAP’s most high profile event, ever. And what with Network Rail being the nation’s infrastructure provider, it Contents seems a good point to open the batting: Network Rail very much understands the challenge that the Skipton East Lancs Railway Action Partnership are seeking to address in the re-instatement of the Colne-Skipton line and has had a number of useful meetings with the Partnership in recent months. Network Rail strives to develop and enhance the rail network and would be more than willing to work alongside other industry parties with a prospective funder, who wishes to take the scheme forward in the future. We wish you well for the Autumn 2009 conference. Network Rail’s good wishes for SELRAP’s groundbreaking conference plainly worked. For where else would you FRONT COVER find Shadow Transport Ministers from both opposition Conference delegates and speakers (clockwise from top left): parties, UK and European MPs representing all three David Curry MP, Gordon Prentice MP, Chris Davies MEP, Stephen Hammond MP, Conservative Shadow Transport Minister, Norman Baker MP, Lib Dem major political parties, transport planners and rail Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, Paul Salveson, Adrian Shooter, industry top brass speaking with one voice ..... that was Peter Frost, Steven Cochrane, Alan Beswick. full of praise, support and advice [on the way forward] for SELRAP’s campaign to see the Skipton-Colne railway THIS CONFERENCE EDITION ..... line reopened as part of a much-needed new trans- of CravenRail is just that. A conference aimed at Pennine route for passengers and freight. progressing the case for reopening a railway has never Keynote speakers: spellbound delegates. been staged at this level before. Historians will look back on that extraordinary meeting of minds as the turning point in a campaign to reopen the Skipton-Colne railway Questions as part of the national network. asked ..... A great many people helped SELRAP to make it the success it plainly was. You, the reader, can help progress And questions this far reaching scheme still further by lobbying any of answered: by the countless bodies and organisations mentioned in this politicians, transport edition of CravenRail. But don’t stop there. Spread the planners & message still further. If you represent the media, then [rail] industry ask what [more] your publication can do to move minds experts alike. towards a rail reopening that has been eloquently 100 delegates attended the conference, between them described as a “no brainer” ..... representing Parliament, local authorities at all levels, You might also care to join SELRAP ..... transport planners, the rail industry, political parties, Speaker photographs courtesy of Alan Salter: passenger transport authorities, the media, the world of www.transportmatters.co.uk business & commerce, trade unions ..... and more. Networking: CONFERENCE OVERVIEW Clockwise from top left: Michael Parkinson; Background, aims, objectives, summary. Lancashire County Councillor - Keith Young; Chris Davies 3 COMMENT MEP; Shadow Transport On the role of transport in our modern economy. And Minister - Stephen Hammond; Lancashire where policy makers need to be looking next. County Councillor - Bill Bennett; Louise Gaskell 4 BIGGEST EVENT EVER - E Lancs Chamber of Commerce; Freda Bury; 4 THE STORY SO FAR Alan Beswick - Director JMP Consulting; Derek 4 THE BACKGROUND Jennings - Chairman SELRAP. 5/6 CONFERENCE REPORT Aimed at raising the profile of SELRAP’s campaign to 6/7 FULL LIST OF SELRAP’S SUPPORTERS reopen the Skipton-Colne railway, and offering pointers 8/9/I0 CONFERENCE REPORT towards the formation of a funding partnership to see the project to completion as England’s first rail 11 SO THERE YOU HAVE IT reopening for over 10 years, this was the first time such 11 MEET OUR NEW PATRON a high profile team of speakers has been assembled to 11 DESTINATION NORTH YORKSHIRE outline the case for reopening a railway. 11 WHAT ELSE HAVE WE BEEN UP TO? Summing up those speakers’ comments in his closing remarks, Conference Chairman Colin Speakman said: 12 MEMBERSHIP FORM & CONTACTS At the national level, we need to change the DfT and 12 WHAT NEXT ..... AND FINALLY! Treasury methods of appraisal. At the regional level, we need to understand the city region concept. At 12 MEETINGS SCHEDULE local level, we need to start the delivery process. Comment 3 Remember the one about spying On the fact that transport is the glue that holds our something beginning with ..... modern economies together: It’s the sort of game you play to keep the kids happy on long journeys. Look no further than the contents of your refrigerator if you need proof of this wild But ask your average child seat accusation. Beans from Kenya. Tomatoes from Spain. Yoghourt from the other end occupant to spy somewhere you can no of the country. And none of it got there by accident. It got there ‘cos someone saw longer access by rail ..... and they to it that transport was available. might cry “foul!” But those simple examples are just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. Indeed, take It’s more the sort of question their any artefact, product or service. Consider, for a moment, the wider story of its parents might consider whilst idling away their time, stuck in one of those manufacture or provision. Then try to assemble the same story without effective all-too familiar traffic jams. transport. Where food stays close to its source; timber stays in forests; stone, iron And with a rail network roughly half the ore, coal and oil where it is brought to the surface. Neighbouring populations almost size it was fifty years ago it’s an easy never meet. And the concept of travelling for business or leisure is for another life. sort of game to play. In the joined up high speed 21st century we now inhabit, the scenario I have outlined But as your starter for ten, the editor is simply unimaginable. Or is it? For as I write this [January] the nation has, if the has made it even easier with a solution media is to be believed, temporarily closed down due to lack of grit. for every single letter [bar X & Z!] of the alphabet: Already the economists are telling us that the snow and ice cost us £600 million per Ashbourne (Derbyshire: 7,500) day. That’s media speak for [mainly road] transport failures on a wide front. But we Buckingham (Bucks: 11,000) can’t win ..... ‘cos those economists also tell us that widespread congestion and traffic Consett (Durham: 27,000) accidents on those self same roads routinely combine to cost the economy £30billion Dunstable (Bedford: 34,000) per year. That’s £82million per day. Something of a snip. Until it hits you ..... Earby (Lancs: 5,000) Fakenham (Norfolk: 8.000) History has demonstrated that the driver for developments in transport is trade. Glastonbury (Somerset: 9000) Thus, the metamorphosis from tracks fit only for feet, to turnpike roads. Then, as Hawes (N Yorks: 1,200) the nineteenth century industrial revolution unfolded, canals ..... and a rail network Ilfracombe (Devon: 12,000) fit for the purpose of servicing a rapidly growing economy and its population. Jesmond (Tyne & Wear: 12,000) Keswick (Cumbria: 5,000) For more than a hundred years that 20,000 mile [plus] rail network remained fit for Lutterworth (Leics: 8,500) purpose, and moved just about everything that moved. But the mid-20th century Mablethorpe (Lincs: 12,000) dash for modernity metamorphosed both the expectation and reality of transport as New Romney (Kent: 7,000) Oundle (Northants:6,000) the motorway age burst upon the nation in 1959. And it has gone on from there. Padstow (Cornwall: 3,500) Fifty years ago, planners saw road transport, with its inherent flexibility, as the Queensbury (W Yorks: 9,000) future. With rails slashed and burnt ..... and relegated to history. But history has a Richmond (N Yorks: 9,000) habit of rearing up in our faces. For few at the time considered the [now] well-known Skelmersdale (Lancs: 40,000) Tadcaster (N Yorks: 7,000) fact ..... that investment in the road network would simply encourage more traffic to Uppingham (Rutland: 4,000) use it. And this remains the case, as any [road] user will tell you ..... Verwood (Dorset: 14,000) Don’t get me wrong.