Restoring a railway connection linking Colne and Skipton would deliver economic advantages to Bradford comparable to those offered by an intra-city railway facility, according to one local representative.
Conservative member Ralph Cohn, who serves the Airedale division on Bradford’s local authority, advanced this position during proceedings of Bradford Council’s Executive committee.
His remarks centred on dissatisfaction with existing transport investment strategies, which he contended placed excessive emphasis on urban core accessibility while neglecting smaller settlements including Silsden and Cross Hills.
Committee members received documentation outlining the District’s Strategic Transport Priorities during the same session.
The assessment encompassed various infrastructure proposals, among them a proposed tram connection between Bradford and Leeds along with plans for an additional railway passage and station within the urban centre.
Councillor Cohn, who secured his position during May’s local government balloting, expressed strong reservations about the document.
His contention was that resources should be directed more substantially toward rural parts of Bradford district.
He further argued that reactivating the railway stretching from Skipton in North Yorkshire to Colne in Lancashire would generate comparable economic stimulus for the region to that anticipated from enhanced city centre railway infrastructure.
Advocacy for reviving this defunct railway has emerged from multiple quarters, with proponents from the Bradford region maintaining it would substantially invigorate Keighley.
Addressing the metropolitan concentration of proposed works, Cohn observed that those residing in his division alongside populations in Keighley and Ilkley had been overlooked.
The strategic transport framework, he stated, failed to address requirements for nearly three in ten local inhabitants.
Those dependent on railway services operating outside Bradford’s boundaries or those seeking safer pedestrian road-crossing conditions received no consideration.
While substantial expenditure on urban railway infrastructure serving perhaps one-third of the entire district remained under contemplation, communities were demanding provisions tailored to their specific circumstances.
The priority ought to centre on fostering commercial and manufacturing expansion, and current proposals were unlikely to accomplish this objective.
Reinstating the Colne railway would require only a small fraction of the expenditure needed for an intra-city through-line station yet would probably yield comparable levels of regional development.
Dave Shephard, the Council’s Place Director, undertook to engage in further discussion with Cohn while noting that the outlined initiatives would generate advantages extending throughout the whole district.