It’s been a long time.

Some years ago, you signed a petition which sought to secure a beneficial future for the disused railway tunnel under Queensbury in West Yorkshire. We have longstanding plans - supported by several regional stakeholders - to bring the structure back into use as part of an ambitious active travel network connecting Bradford, Keighley and Halifax. A recent Sustrans feasibility study found that £3 would be gained in social, economic and tourism benefits for every £1 spent on delivery.

We thought the battle had effectively been won when former Transport Secretary Grant Shapps instructed National Highways, the tunnel’s custodian, to strengthen parts of the structure and make it safe for repurposing. £7.2M was invested to do just that.

Now though, the state-owned roads company has convinced the government to commit a further £7.5M on a scheme to infill parts of the tunnel, rendering it permanently beyond use. So, if this work goes ahead, the taxpayer would have spent £14.7M on work from which we would derive absolutely no benefit. And the opportunities presented by the structure - to connect a collection of overlooked communities - would be lost.

We are 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 our CrowdJustice fundraising page, the link to which is below. We would really appreciate any donation - no matter how small - if you felt able to help us again to protect this iconic legacy asset.

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

Very many thanks, in anticipation.