GET TOGETHER ON TRANSPORT

OK we all love the East Lancashire Light Railway Company and the benefits it brings to Bury, Rossendale and the surrounding areas.

However, it seems to me that £600,000 is a ridiculous amount of money to spend on a railway station makeover.

If this money can be raised, and even more, then it’s a huge opportunity for our authorities and organisations to provide Rossendale with an improved transport system which actually works and benefits everyone.

Our Members of Parliament, Graham Jones, Jake Berry, who is the Norther Powerhouse government representative, Lancashire county councillors, local councillors, the Greater Manchester transport executive, Andy Burnham, Greater Manchester’s mayor, Chairman Mike Kelly, and the East Lancashire Railway representatives, have a great opportunity to make real change here in Rossendale.

They need to sit around the table and come up with proposals and finances to make our transport infrastructure work successfully.

I still believe my previously ignored idea of a free shuttle service from the Rawtenstall Station to the Whitaker Museum, the Ski Slope and Rawtenstall Market, would be a real asset for tourism in Rawtenstall. It’s a shame that extending the railway over the river with a dropping off point/halt close to the B&M store probably isn’t viable.

This would however bring people closer to the town and its amenities.

As Rossendale borough council operates Rosso Buses (terrible name), surely we could dress this idea up and utilise our bus company and promote three of our largest tourist attractions in Rawtenstall even more.

Rossendale needs a rail link to Bury and beyond. It is imperative that this becomes a reality.

Greater Manchester has a great transport system thanks to the Metrolink and this should be expanded to Rossendale via Bury and Rochdale.

The East Lancs Railway is a separate entity from the Metrolink and should remain so with its status as a Light Railway Company.

The Metrolink utilises both road and rail and surely this can be done here in Rossendale.

Perhaps an outward journey could be envisaged by the use of the by-pass to the Stubbins roundabout then continuing on the top road via the A56 through Walmersley and into the Bury Metro railway and bus station.

The journey inward from Bury could use the same route to the roundabout in Rawtenstall via the by-pass and onto Bacup Road, where a connection could be linked close to the proposed new bus station.

This would at least make the £4 million bus station more viable and part of a much more effective transport hub.

I’m not an engineer and this is just one proposal for a concept that really does need to happen.

The Metrolink has been a huge success and is connected to most areas of Greater Manchester and the airport, including Bury and Rochdale.

Linking Rossendale to the system would complete the circle.

Further extensions in the future could also include Helmshore, Haslingden and Burnley, which now connects to Todmorden, Hebden Bridge and beyond via the main railway system.

If completed, transport around this area would be well on the way to how things used to be before the transport network was destroyed during the 1960s and 1970s.

The increased benefits of an improved transport system for places such as Rawtenstall, Waterfoot, Bacup and Whitworth would be enormous for commuters, tourism and businesses alike.

It’s such a shame that the main rail link from Rawtenstall to Bacup has been broken up.

However, with the will and wisdom of the various bodies involved, I’m sure this could be rectified in order to complete a vital link.

Recently, the residents of Rossendale have been ignored by our politicians with the bus station/Town Hall fiasco and the game of Monopoly development in Bacup.

Here we would have ‘passed go,’ driven over roundabouts and pelican crossings but not collected our £200.

People power eventually won the game here with the Bacup town centre plans. Thankfully, Lancashire county council has withdrawn the £750,000 funding.

On this occasion, some of our politicians actually listened to the people and it seems that a more practical and economical approach is now being taken.

This can happen when our local politicians take on board the views of people who have elected them.

Our transport solutions should not continue to be used as a political football.

Our representatives should co-operate with each other, work together, and for the sake of all our communities, produce transport links that work for Rossendale.

We need to look no further than the Magic Roundabout in Rawtenstall for proof of a traffic scheme that has evolved with disastrous results.

Rawtenstall must be one of the few places where a fire station sits on top of a chaotic and extremely dangerous roundabout.

We now have a perfect opportunity to finally make progress.

Let’s hope the relevant individuals and authorities can take this or other similar schemes on board and make this happen.

They must tap their pin number into the government cash machine and create the funding to improve and construct a new transport infrastructure in Rossendale.

As with my previous articles, I plan to circulate this document to the relevant politicians and organisations involved in decision making here within the Rossendale Valley, Greater Manchester and Lancashire. Rex Walsh