PRESSURE is mounting on County Hall to accept responsibility for the disused railway line between Colne and Skipton so it can be reopened.

Lord Tony Greaves raised the future of the old line twice in the House of Lords last week.

He said Lancashire County Council was ‘dragging its feet’ on the issue of deciding who owns the line, because of financial implications.

Speaking on the Public Bodies Bill, Lord Greaves intervened on a proposal to abolish BRB (Residuary) Ltd, which manages railway land and property that is no longer in railway use.

The Colne-based peer, a patron of Skipton-East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership (SELRAP), pointed out that although the line between Colne and Skipton belonged to county auth-orities in Lancashire and North Yorkshire, the section between Pendle and the old West Riding boundary was still owned by the residuary body.

Lord Greaves said: “It is very imp-ortant that some stretches of track should remain within the public sector in some way or other, pending the glorious day when the railway is returned to those lines that were closed down and had their tracks removed.

“The county council is reluctant to take over responsibility for the former line because it claims that liability for the bridges would cost a vast amount of money, although the residuary body has not spent much on them at all.”

In response to a written question from Lord Greaves, Transport Mini-ster Earl Attlee said the most recent talks between BRB (Residuary) Ltd and LCC for the sale of the line, with a view to it being used as a cycle path, had taken place in July and there had been no contact from LCC since.

Lord Greaves said: “Yet again it seems that LCC is dragging its feet on an issue of importance in Pendle.”

But County Coun Tim Ashton descr-ibed Lord Greaves’s calls as ‘prema-ture’ as discussions were continuing.

He said: “We are keen to work with SELRAP to reinstate this line.

“There is a problem with the future liability of the trackbed and that is why we are being particularly cautious. We want to make sure the bridges are structurally sound.”