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Queensbury cycle tunnel: Government's £4m offer 'derisory'

Four by Three Artist's impression of cycle pathFour by Three
Campaigners want to reopen Queensbury Tunnel as part of a cycle network

A government offer of £4m to help turn an abandoned railway tunnel into a cycle route is "derisory" and "disappointing", campaigners have said.

Bradford Council and campaigners have for years called for Queensbury Tunnel to be re-opened for cyclists and pedestrians.

But campaigners say it would cost £27m and the Department for Transport (DfT)'s £4m is "nowhere near enough".

The new tunnel would be a traffic-free route between Bradford and Halifax.

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Campaigners say the 1.4 mile (2.3km) former railway tunnel could become part of a national cycleway and a visitor attraction in its own right.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps wrote to Bradford Council to say £4m is the "best and final offer".

Forgotten Relics Inside the tunnelForgotten Relics
Queensbury Tunnel has been closed to trains for more than 60 years

Bradford Council leader Susan Hinchcliffe said she was "so disappointed", at a time when green transport is "so important".

"Campaigners and residents have come out in their thousands to support re-opening the Queensbury Tunnel as a much-needed commuter link between Bradford and Halifax," she said.

"I am so disappointed that the offer made is so inadequate."

She said half the funding offered by the government would be spent undoing work by Highways England, who poured concrete into an airshaft.

'Embrace active travel'

Norah McWilliam, of the Queensbury Tunnel Society said: "One thing we have learned from the Covid crisis is that healthy exercise and clean air are essential for community wellbeing.

"The underlying public appetite to embrace active travel has been amply demonstrated.

"Bradford deserves a decent share of the £2bn fund announced by Grant Shapps to put walking and cycling at the heart of the nation's transport policy."

Highways England manages the tunnel on behalf of the DfT and has pushed for it to be filled in for safety reasons.

A decision is yet to be made on a planning application to block up the tunnel.

Ms Hinchcliffe said she had written to the DfT to ask them to reconsider.

The DfT said it is in discussions with the council on the future of the tunnel but no agreement had been reached.

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