Some time ago, you signed a petition which sought to protect our fabulous railway heritage from National Highways' wrecking ball. The state-owned roads company was pursuing a destructive infilling and demolition programme - often using illegitimate permitted development rights - that would put beyond use many legacy structures that were needed for active travel routes or heritage railway extensions.

The last government intervened to stop that vandalism, but the current one has just sanctioned a £7.5M project that would result in the loss of Queensbury Tunnel in West Yorkshire which is earmarked as the centrepiece of an ambitious greenway network connecting Bradford and Keighley to Halifax. A recent Sustrans feasibility study found that £3 would be gained in social, economic and tourism benefits for every £1 spent on delivery.

To make matters worse, between 2018 and 2021, £7.2M of public money was spent making the tunnel safe for future reuse.

A local campaign group is currently trying to raise £6,500 to pay for legal work which would help to determine whether there are grounds to challenge the government’s decision through a Judicial Review. There’s more detail on the background to this case on its CrowdJustice fundraising page, the link to which is below.

www.crowdjustice.com/case/save-queensbury-tunnel/

They would really appreciate any donation - no matter how small - if you felt able to help them protect this iconic legacy asset.

Many thanks, in anticipation.