Telegraph and Argus, 26th July 2024
LOCATED just 12 miles apart on opposite sides of the Lancashire-Yorkshire border, two traditional market towns have experienced contrasting fortunes in recent decades.
At present, very few people make the move across this particular divide because of poor transport links, but it is now "more likely than ever" that Skipton and Colne will be reconnected by rail.
It was 1970 when Skipton, no stranger to The Sunday Times 'best places to live' list, lost its rail link to Colne, an area of East Lancashire where some communities are ranked among the most deprived in the UK.
Despite its busy high street and period properties, the Colne Neighbourhood Development Plan reveals that inner parts of Colne, particularly parts of the Waterside area, are some of the most deprived in the country. On the Index of Multiple Deprivation, many parts of Colne are among the 10 per cent most deprived areas in the country.
Now, enthusiastic support has been given by Skipton councillors to the rebuilding of the 'missing link' railway line between the towns.
Skipton town councillors reaffirmed the council's long standing commitment to the £300 million project which would see the reinstatement of the 12- mile stretch.
Representatives of the Skipton-East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership (SELRAP) told the full council at its meeting last week that reinstatement of the line, which was closed in 1970, but with large parts of the track bed still in place, was a 'transformational project' that would reap benefits for both areas.
For Skipton there would be quick and easy access to East Lancashire and onto Manchester; and for its businesses, such as SELRAP supporter, Skipton Building Society, potential employees.
For East Lancashire, described in the meeting as one of the most socially deprived areas in the north of England, it would open up the jobs market in the Skipton area.
Andy Shackleton, for SELRAP, told the meeting, held at the offices of North Yorkshire Council in Belle Vue Mills, that confidence in the re-building of the line had 'ebbed and flowed' over the years, but that it was thought there had never been a better time for it to be built.
Councillors were told support was now needed by organisations in both North Yorkshire and Lancashire and that a series of meetings were being held by SELRAP to garner renewed backing for the project.
Mr Shackleton said rebuilding of the line would be largely straight-forward.
A station would have to be built somewhere in the Earby area and also at Colne, but interference in the existing railway would be minimal, with connection happening only at the end of the rebuilding project.