SEP
17
Cllr Aziz continues his support calls for Skipton to Colne rail link by attending SELRAP
Cllr Noordad Aziz continued to raise awareness for better East - West Connectivity in East Lancashire by attending the SELRAP (Skipton East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership) AGM in Colne to continue his support for the re-establishment of the Skipton to Colne Rail link. The link would have a significant impact to the residents of Hyndburn as it would improve accessibility to higher skilled jobs with large organisations such as Rolls Royce and Skipton Building Society being directly accessibile via a direct train link as well reduce journey time to Leeds, which is the biggest financial services sectors outside of London.
At the AGM, the SELRAP Executive talked about their achievements over the past year in lobbying central government as well as local transport authorities such as Lancashire County Council (LCC), North Yorkshire (NYCC) and West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) . The publication of two reports into better infrastructure links for East - West Connectivity in the Central Pennine Corridor, which Lancashire is a part of, has provided impetus to the campaign for better investment in Rail and Road infrastructure in the region. The LCC and WYCA commissioned report on Cerntral Trans-Pennine Corridor East - West Connectivity and the Transport for North (TfN) Major Roads Report and Integrated Rail Report, both reports see the positive impact of having better connectivity in the region as their is 'significant ambition and 'untapped' economic growth potential'. The executive also highlighted the support they had received from large organisation for the re-establishment of the line such as Skipton Building Society, who see their employement catchment area grow west into East Lancashire, Drax Energy and Peel Ports, who see the benefit of the line for using it for Rail Freight to move goods East - West in the region.
SELRAP Executive Committee set the goals for next year of continuing engaging with MP's whose residents would benefit from the re-establishment of the link as well as commissioning a specific detailed report including route map and the investment requirements. They again encouraged members to participate in working with the committee to raise awareness and also writing MP's asking for them to support.
Cllr Aziz on attending the AGM said 'I am passionate in calling for better East - West Connectivity in our region as the benefit would be seismic for our area and would transform the region and drive economic growth and social mobility. I think we need to continue to work collaboratively in calling for both Road and Rail infrastructure investment in improving East - West Connectivity whether through the re-establishment of Skipton to Colne rail link or the M65 linking into Yorkshire as the need has been proven and we need to continue to lobby for this'