In 1891, the North Eastern Railway had plans drawn up to build a bridge over the railway as a replacement for the level crossing by the station, which was already problematic in the age when road vehicles were horse drawn, and before there was much development of the town on the west side of the level crossing. The illustration to this update shows part of the plans.

The slope to the bridge would have started around Jefferson St. The bridge and approaches would have been two lanes, and it looks like with two footpaths. One lane would have been on part of Boothferry Road, the other lane and path would have on land to the station side.

There would have been a ramp up from Pasture Road, and the slop would have ended on the other side by Belgravia (where the Halifax Bank is now).

The plans were included in a draft Act of Parliament submitted by the North Eastern Railway, primarily for works to enlarge Leeds New station (some of the platforms of which are part of the present Leeds station). The local council then was called Goole Local Board. It threatened to petition against the Bill and make representations to the Board of Trade.

The level crossing by the station was not the only one in Goole. The present Grange Road has a stub running towards the railway from its junction with Dunhill Road. In 1891 the road continued over the railway lines, and became a road called Green Lane and ultimately joined Bridge St. West Dock and its sidings had not been built then, nor the large water tower.

Out of Goole Local Board’s intervention, instead of having Boothferry Road cross the railway on a bridge instead of the level crossing, and Grange Road having a level crossing over the railway before running into Bridge Street (possibly diverted to meet Bridge St and Stanhope St), Goole ended up with the level crossing at the station and two subways, plus the “Monkey Bridge” from Gordon Street to a path to Bridge St.

The Townsfolk were told that Goole Local Board had done a great job and words to the effect that this was “great news for Goole”.

Back to today, amidst the rumours that the Leisure Centre might have to be demolished due to pool leaks came announcements in the past few days that east Riding Council’s Cabinet have finally given the go ahead for the Leisure Centre project to proceed, with the contractor who built the RaiSe building on Tom Pudding Way appointed. This prompted questions as to why there is a 10 month gap between closure of the Leisure Centre and the planned start of work.

The response was one of Goole’s East Riding councillors saying on social media that all Goole residents should be grateful for the developments that are being graciously granted to Goole by East Riding Council and the Town Deal Board, and he knew that most residents are grateful, it’s just there is a small group of “keyboard warriors” who keep moaning and being negative.

The tone was that of an Emperor talking about his great personal generosity towards a group of peasants, rather than that of a democratically elected official addressing the electorate about the use of public money.

The above information comes from documents in Goole’s public library, a great asset to the town. Some of the documents have to be read using a microfilm reader brought out of retirement when the previous machine broke down and was so old it was impossible to buy parts. The current reader can only display microfilm sideways, which means anyone using the reader to research local history has to tilt their head sideways to read the screen  – a pain in the neck literally. It’s not possible to consult Goole Local Board minutes until December as they are in the Beverley Archives, closed because of major building work. Researching local history is not as easy as it might be…

The latest statutory annual Government report on the state of public libraries in England says that in real terms, funding for public libraries in 2022-3 was about half what it was in 2009-10 (see: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/annual-report-to-parliament-on-public-libraries-activities-from-april-2023-to-march-2024/libraries-annual-report-202324 One of the symptoms of the austerity programme since 2010… Yet, even without Covid, Government borrowing, which austerity was supposed to reduce, was roughly double what had been from the early 80s to the 2008 financial crash. Public services are perceived to be much worse though. What has that money been spent on?

Your writer doesn’t know any library user or citizen who is in favour of moving the library into a still further reduced space in the leisure centre, away from the museum, “cultural quarter” and town centre. Yet East Riding is absolutely determined to press on regardless.

However much money is spent on clever PR, it is ultimately history that forms a judgement on what is “great news” for a town, not the PR teams and those that hire them. I wonder how many citizens of Goole today think that the current level crossing and subway - which is what Goole Local Board secured out of their dealings – is “good news”. Would today’s citizens prefer Boothferry Road on a bridge over the railway, and another level crossing or (replacement bridge, which seems to have been a possibility) linking Rawcliffe Road and Grange Road to Stanhope St and Bridge St - options Goole Local Board lost for the town?