A CAMPAIGN to re-open the Skipton-Colne railway line received more publicity when Pendle MP Gordon Prentice pushed the issue in the Commons.
During questions to the Department for Transport, Mr Prentice asked what assessment had been made of the viability of reopening the Skipton to Colne and the Skipton to Grassington railways.
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, David Jamieson, said the Strategic Rail Authority had set out its current plans. These did not include reopening either line.
Mr Prentice said he was very disappointed by the decision.
"Why does calling for the reopening of an old railway appear eccentric, while calling for a new road, as my misguided honourable friend the Member for Burnley, Mr Pike, has done, is okay? Will the Minister accept that now that the Countryside Agency is calling for the reopening of those two lines we ought to press ahead and get trains running on them?
"The Yorkshire Dales is out of bounds to thousands without a car." Mr Jamieson said if plans were put forward by the local authority they would be considered.
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