CAMPAIGNERS fighting to save a historic tunnel have written to the Transport Secretary voicing their “deep dismay and bewilderment” at a funding offer from the Government.
The Queensbury Tunnel Society has long been pressing for the 1.4-mile-long disused Victorian structure to be reopened to form the centrepiece of a cycle path network connecting Halifax to Bradford and Keighley.
The estimated cost of completing the project is £27.2m.
But in a letter to Bradford Council, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps made a ‘take it or leave it’ offer of just £4m.
Dr Norah McWilliam, Queensbury Tunnel Society leader, said backers of the scheme had been expecting “something a good deal more positive” after supportive comments from Mr Shapps earlier in the year.
In the letter to the Transport Secretary, she says £4 million has already been spent on strengthening work to parts of the tunnel and a further £3 million would be needed to complete its abandonment – subject to planning permission.
She adds: “It is inexplicable that you seem content to spend public money destroying a magnificent piece of Yorkshire’s industrial heritage rather than supporting positive plans for a greenway that would reduce congestion in the long term, help communities beset with health problems, attract tourists and stimulate local businesses.”
The society is calling for “a sufficient sum” to be allocated from the Government’s £2 billion active travel fund to give Bradford Council the confidence to take on the tunnel’s ownership and construct a cycle route through it.
The tunnel is managed by Highways England for the Department for Transport.
A Department spokesman said: “We are in discussions with Bradford Council on the future of the Queensbury Tunnel, but no agreement has been reached.”
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