Calls to push Calder Valley rail line 'to top of the list' for electrification after cancellation of HS2 northern leg

Following cancellation of the northern leg of the HS2 rail scheme, the Government should be pressured to push the Calder Valley line to the top of the list, they said.

But it was a Labour amendment to the Conservatives’ original motion which won majority support at at a meeting of Calderdale Council.

Conservative group leader Coun Steven Leigh (Ryburn) said there was never any doubt electrification was what was needed and with electrification of the Transpennine route – the other rail link across the Pennines – the case was even more compelling.

“This is now strategically important because if we electrify we have got alternative routes across the Pennines,” he said.

Coun Leigh said this gave options when transport problems arose, and supporting him Coun Howard Blagbrough (Con, Brighouse) said: “We need to modernise it as part of encouraging people to use public transport.”

But Coun Scott Patient (Lab, Calder), cabinet member for Climate Action, Active Travel and Housing, said although all agreed a key message of getting funding in as soon as possible, a note of reality had to be introduced.

“Unfortunately the Conservative government approach towards investment in rail infrastructure investment in the north of England has been characterised by a string of broken promises,” he claimed.

Supporting him, Coun Diana Tremayne (Lab, Todmorden) and Coun Colin Hutchinson (Lab, Skircoat) highlighted moving freight off road and onto rail as another key component.

Coun Felicity Issott (Con, Ryburn) argued her group’s proposal to request the council’s leader, chief executive, Mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin and other senior West Yorkshire Combined Authority leaders write to the Minister for Transport asking for electrification of the line to be prioritised was a case of deeds not words.

But council leader Coun Jane Scullion (Lab, Luddenden Foot) said it was like “Groundhog Day” hearing Government railway promises.

Councillors approved Labour’s resolution that the council would “not put up with being ignored by central Government” and would continue “to fight for decent rail services”, including working with Mayor Brabin, the combined authority and Government departments to push for line electrification.