Queensbury Tunnel cycleway plan too costly, say government
National Highways inherited the 1.4mile (2.2km) long tunnel after the privatisation of British Rail and abandonment would reduce its liabilities.Re-use of the tunnel as a greenway was first proposed as a Tour de France legacy scheme in 2014 after the Grand Depart of the world-famous cycle race was held in Yorkshire.Between 2018 and 2021 National Highways spent £7.2m on strengthening the tunnel, saying the work would "prevent further uncontrolled collapses, ensuring that any future plans for the re-use of the structure can be realised".Campaigners say work to complete the project would cost in the region of £16m.A feasibility study, published by cycle charity Sustrans earlier this year, found that the route would improve local connectivity and generate £3 in social, economic and tourism benefits for every £1 spent on it.Ms McWilliam said: "Why are National Highways managing structures like Queensbury Tunnel, why are the government not shifting responsibility for the tunnel and other historic infrastructure to a department who really understand the public benefits of greenways and how to repurpose heritage structures?"
A spokesperson for the Department for Transport said: "Given the continued deterioration of the Queensbury Tunnel, and in the absence of local funding to develop it as a transport link, National Highways has been instructed to carry out works to maintain public safety."This has been a difficult decision but ultimately, we have a responsibility to safety and delivering value for the taxpayer".West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin, who previously campaigned for the tunnel to be reopened said while she shared the disappointment of campaigners she understood the government's decision.She said: "The Government had to act quickly to secure the site, and the realities of public finances meant a difficult decision needed to be made."In 2024 Bradford Council said that while it was "supportive of restoring the tunnel in principle" it was unlikely to be able to fund further and would instead focus on other active travel projects.Campaigners are due to meet with Greenwood in London later this month to discuss her decision.
Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
3 hours ago
- The Sun
Jaw-dropping £9BILLION plan for UK's longest motorway tunnel that will cut journey times in half is unveiled in pics
NEW images have been released by National Highways highlighting how the upcoming Lower Thames Crossing could look in a few years. The UK government is planning to build the huge, motorway-style tunnel in a project that would cost some £9 billion. 5 The Lower Thames Crossing 5 The Lower Thames Crossing includes 14.3 miles of new road and Britain's longest road tunnel, a 2.6-mile twin-bore tunnel beneath the River Thames. It would link the town of Tilbury in Essex to Medway in Kent, would also be connected to the A2 and M2 in Kent, as well as the A13 and M25 in Essex. It would also provide transp o rt links between London and crossings to Dover - which, of course, account for half of the goods traded between Britain and mainland Europe. First planned back in 2009, the Lower Thames Crossing would reportedly see 13 million vehicles redirected away from the heavily congested Dartford Crossing. It's been estimated that the costs of lost productivity from congestion on the Dartford Crossing have exceeded £200million each year, with the route disproportionately used by freight vehicles transporting goods. More Green Space 5 The project will create six times more green space than road, including one million new trees, a new community woodland, two new public parks, and seven green bridges. These will blend the road into the landscape and connect local communities to the countryside. The building of the Lower Thames Crossing would also have a positive impact on motorists; journey times at the Dartford Crossing would likely improve by around 30% and increase to 46% between Kent and Essex. It's also estimated that it would inject around £40bn into the UK economy. Natalie Chapman, Head of Public Affairs for Logistics UK, said: 'As soon as this road opens, people will start to feel the benefits. Moment OAP zooms the wrong way on the M55 'In the short term, it will create jobs in construction and supply and it has the potential to unlock growth and inward investment on both sides of the crossing.' Road Haulage Association managing director Richard Smith also said Reeves' endorsement of the project was 'a major victory for our sector' that has the potential to 'turbocharge the economy'. New Images 5 A new set of images has been released by National Highways showing how this innovative approach is transforming how the road will look and feel. The project will use 'low carbon footbridges' to eliminate 'the need for concrete and minimises the use of steel'. It will feature seven new green bridges – more than doubling the number currently in Britain – including Europe's widest. A National Highways spokesperson said: "These crossings will make it easier and safer for both people and wildlife to move through green spaces." There will also be pre-fabricated bridges built in an offsite facility using low-carbon methods. These bridges are set to be quicker and easier to install on site. This approach aims to reduce disruption to local communities, traffic and the environment reports Kent Live. Most of the route will be in a tunnel or hidden behind landscaped embankments and mounds, helping it blend into the countryside and green spaces. The use of gantries will reduce steel and concrete to help cut carbon, while maintaining strength and durability, helping build a more sustainable Lower Thames Crossing. The project was given planning permission by the government in March following years of consultation and design development. The images will be showcased at a series of community events across Kent, Essex and Havering starting on Wednesday (June 11). 5
The Guardian
15 hours ago
- The Guardian
Terrifying Mont Ventoux ready to create the unexpected again in Tour de France
The decades pass, generations of Tour de France cyclists come and go, but some gruesome things never change. On Tuesday, the survivors of one of the craziest, fastest Tours ever, a race with even less respite than usual, will do as their predecessors have done every few years since 1951: they will crest a rise in the road, and see Mont Ventoux on the horizon. A sinking in the heart will accompany the dull ache in the legs: we're off to the Bald Mountain once again. The men of the Tour probably won't be thankful for small mercies, but they should be. Last time the Tour visited, in 2021, although the background scenario was the same – Tadej Pogacar had smashed the race to bits on the first serious climb and was set fair for victory – the organisers cruelly made them go over the 1,910m summit twice, in two different ways. Wout van Aert might recall that with a wry smile: the Belgian was in his prime back then and he won out of a breakaway. The time before that, in 2016, the chaos on the mountain was such that the man who was Pogifying the race that year, Chris Froome, ran part of the way to the finish, which had been moved off the summit due to high winds. Froome might recall that utterly freakish episode with a wry smile from his home in Monaco, but it will be tinged with regret that at 40 he probably won't be racing up the Giant of Provence again. Tempora mutantur, but not the Ventoux. That, partly, reflects one of the key features of the Tour; the way it constantly revisits and rewrites its past in places that have barely changed since the first visit. Go round the partly banked corner at Saint-Estève and on to the virtually straight haul through the oak-wooded lower slopes, and it's essentially the same brutal experience that the stars of the 50s, 60s and 70s might have undergone, perhaps with better tarmac as you go up with barely a hairpin to break the gradient until the final haul across the scree slopes to the top. The Ventoux is a place where stuff happens on the Tour, very little of it good, beginning with Jean Malléjac's near-death in 1955 and continuing with Tom Simpson's dramatic demise in 1967. That event, which I investigated in my 2002 biography of Simpson, Put Me Back on My Bike, remains the mountain's defining moment, lending a note of pilgrimage to every ascent to the desolate waste of wind- and frost-blasted limestone scree on its pointed summit. The generation that raced with Simpson has largely passed on – the death in April of Barry Hoban being a case in point – but the poignancy of his death and the tales around it lose nothing in the telling. Equally memorable, if with a touch of farce, was the Froome fiasco in 2016. Froome slipping and sliding in his stiff-soled carbon shoes and clicking pedal cleats with a huge crowd baying at him was probably the most outlandish event I witnessed in 27 Tours, and the feeling then was that this kind of thing could happen only in one of three places, all equally extreme: the Ventoux, l'Alpe d'Huez, and the rarely visited extinct volcano of Le Puy de Dôme in the Massif Central. After all, it wasn't that long since, in 2000, most of the race infrastructure had had to be left behind due to dangerous, but not freak, high winds, meaning that when Marco Pantani won ahead of Lance Armstrong, the finish felt like a return to the 1970s. Given the extreme physical challenge and the sumptuous television images it provides, it's not surprising that the mountain now hosts the Tour far more often than of old, pretty much matching l'Alpe d'Huez for frequency whereas in the 80s and 90s, one visit per decade was deemed enough. The one major change in recent years concerns not the mountain itself but the area around it. Recently, the newspaper l'Equipe documented how cycling up the Ventoux is now front and centre of the local economy, with more than 90,000 cyclists each year pedalling up its slopes by the most traditional route, the southerly road from Bédoin which opens earlier in the year than the northerly route from Malaucène. On the last two visits I made to the mountain, I'd have expected the slopes to be busy when I rode up one June, but less so on a bitter October day when light snow was falling at the observatory. Cycle cafes, cycle hire businesses and major players in the cycle industry cater for the two-wheeled hordes, far beyond the traditional stop-off point at Chalet Reynard, where the thermometer was reputed to have broken on the boiling day Simpson died. There are three dedicated photographers who make a living from selling photographs to those who ride up each day, turning over €130,000 annually in one case, not to mention the local businesses that feed and accommodate the cyclists plus major mass participation events such as sportives and gran fondos; the strangest, perhaps, being the 'brotherhood of the Ventoux nutters', membership of which goes to those who have ridden up the Ventoux three times in a single day using each of the three different ways to the summit. Given the Tour's constant pursuit of new and televisually interesting challenges, it's probably only a matter of time until the race follows suit.
The Independent
18 hours ago
- The Independent
Why millions of people could benefit from self-driving vehicles in the UK
A government minister has detailed the benefits of self-driving vehicles as a public consultation launches ahead of its roll-out in the UK next year. Launched today (July 21), the consultation on the automated passenger services (APS) permitting scheme will allow 'representative groups, industry stakeholders, trade unions and members of the public' to voice their opinions on how self-driving vehicles could be used. It comes ahead of the proposed roll-out of taxi-, private-hire- and bus-like services with self-driving technology from spring 2026, prior to the implementation of the Automated Vehicles Act in 2027. Lilian Greenwood, future of roads minister, said: 'Self-driving vehicles are one of the most exciting opportunities to improve transport for so many people, especially those in rural areas or unable to drive. We want to work with passengers and industry to make this new form of transport safe and accessible, as we take our next steps towards adoption. 'This technology doesn't just have the potential to improve transport for millions of people. It will help stimulate innovation, create thousands of jobs, and drive investment to put more money in people's pockets – all part of delivering our Plan for Change.' It follows on from a Government decision to 'fast-track' pilots of self-driving passenger vehicles to spring 2026, which would allow companies to pilot 'small-scale' services conducted without a safety driver monitoring the vehicle for the first time. Users would be able to book the service via an app, similar to a typical taxi or ride-hailing service. Key pointers for the consultation include how self-driving cars could be made more accessible for disabled and older people, and how 'services of self-driving vehicles are approved by councils'. The new consultation will run until September 28, 2025. When speaking on the roll-out of Self-driving taxis and bus-like services, transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said: 'The future of transport is arriving. 'Self-driving cars could bring jobs, investment, and the opportunity for the UK to be among the world-leaders in new technology. 'With road safety at the heart of our pilots and legislation, we continue to take bold steps to create jobs, back British industry and drive innovation.'
