Shapps might have the final say on new rail bridge
OBJECTIONS TO PLAN COULD SEE DECISION GO TO TRANSPORT SECRETARY
TRANSPORT Secretary Grant Shapps could have the final say on rail improvements planned for Batley.
Mr Shapps may be asked to rule on diverting a footpath to accommodate plans by Network Rail to replace the popular manned Lady Anne crossing linking Howley Street with Stoney Lane with a metal footbridge, ramp, stairs and raised pathway.
The site is half a mile to the north of Batley Station.
The bridge and footpath proposals, part of electrification and signalling improvements within the mammoth Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU), were both unanimously approved by Kirklees Council’s Heavy Woollen Planning Sub-Committee on April 28.
Should the council’s diversion order be opposed it would need to be confirmed by Mr Shapps at the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra).
Work on the new bridge must begin within three years. However a condition of the development says no works shall affect the footpath – known as Public Right of Way BAT20/20 – “until a diversion/extinguishment order is made and confirmed”.
Local campaigners who spoke at last week’s meeting said people’s “very real fear” that the bridge would be a magnet for crime and anti-social behaviour had not been addressed.
They suggested that “the financial interests of big business” were “being preferred over local residents”.
Network Rail staff said the works in Batley were “a key to unlocking significant investment by delivering the rail upgrade” and pledged that if anti-social behaviour did increase as a result of the new bridge crime reduction measures would be introduced.
Network Rail’s £1.56bn Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) between Manchester and York includes remodelling Huddersfield Station and knocking down, replacing or improving eight bridges between Huddersfield and Westtown in Dewsbury as well as widening and electrifying the line.
Hannah Lomas, principal programme sponsor for Network Rail, welcomed the decision to approve the “bespoke, accessible bridge”.