A CAMPAIGN to restore the rail link between Pendle and North Yorkshire has received an unexpected boost in Parliament.

Rail North officials have come under fire for concentrating their efforts on just five cities: Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield.

Questions were raised by former Lancashire County Council leader and Transport Select Committee chairman Louise Ellman over the group’s remit.

She outlined the long-standing ambitions of SELRAP (Skipton East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership) to reinstate the 11.5-mile line from Colne to Yorkshire Responding to MPs at Westminster, Dr Jon Lamonte, who is also chief executive of Transport for Greater Manchester, said the group had only recently received a proposal.

He said: “I am very well aware that there is a very strong body from that area who want to look at that. We have not looked at it very carefully yet.”

And pressed by Mrs Ellman if SELRAP’s bid would now be considered, Dr Lamonte replied: “Absolutely.”

The bill for a single-track line has previously been put at £43million and at £81million for double track but SELRAP officials have insisted the scheme can be done for £38million and £72million – and bring untold benefits to both ends.

The organisation has already seen the reinstatement of the Todmorden Curve, near Burnley, which has led to the promise of faster services to Manchester.

Skipton MP Julian Smith said: “I believe that to move the project forward there needs to be local council commitment as much as Government commitment.

“But I am pleased they are getting a good reception by the parliamentary committees they have met.”

The line was first built in 1848 but closed in 1970, when stations at Foulridge, Earby and Thornton-in-Craven were mothballed.