MPs demand Highways England rethink over disposal of heritage structures

BACKBENCH MPs have thrown their weight behind heritage campaigners who are battling to stop Highways England (HE) from demolishing hundreds of disused railway structures.

Following the abolition of BRB (Residuary) Ltd in 2013, the Highways Agency was handed responsibility for managing the Department for Transport's (DfT) Historical Railways Estate (HRE), a collection of around 3800 structures, many of which were made redundant by the Beeching Axe.

However, in a strategic report from 2016, HE indicated its preference to “significantly reduce the level of liability and risk to the HE and DfT” through demolition and infilling. To fund this task, the HRE budget is being quadrupled to a typical annual figure of £41 million.

Pressure

Campaign organisation The HRE Group has been formed to oppose HE plans to eradicate structures which are either of historic value or could be given a new lease of life at some point.

The group claims that a third of the bridges earmarked for infilling are already proposed for reuse as part of reopened railways, heritage line extensions or footpaths and cycleways, or could be reused in the future.

Now the House of Commons Transport Select Committee has written to HE and Roads Minister Charlotte Vere urging it to reconsider.

Committee chairman Huw Merriman MP wrote: “We urge HE and the DfT not to view the estate primarily as a risk to be minimised, but rather as assets to be preserved, repurposed for public benefit and enjoyed.

“Under its 2015 Protocol Agreement with the DfT, HE's role is to reduce the liabilities on the Secretary of State from individual structures within the estate. The estate is not only part of our national heritage, but includes many strategic assets with demonstrable public value.

“We would like to see the Protocol Agreement amended to reflect the cultural and strategic value of these historic structures.

“We are concerned to hear about HE's plans to infill or demolish parts of the estate. We have been informed that 130 bridges and tunnels will be demolished or infilled over the next five years.

“In addition, we understand that up to 15% of the estate (around 480 structures) is at risk of being demolished between now and 2029/30. Many of these historic structures already have an identified use and many more have clear potential to be used in future.

“Historic bridges, viaducts and tunnels, for example, help to facilitate walking and cycling routes throughout the country.

“Plans to demolish and infill these structures not only block existing, and potential, walking and cycling routes, but also prevent the structures being used to reopen historic railway lines.

“Around one third of these 130 structures, for many reasons, have no realistic prospect of offering any public value.

“In such cases, it is reasonable to demolish or infill these structures, but, in principle, effort should be made to preserve the estate and encourage local communities to make use of these assets.”

Action welcomed

HRE Group member Graeme Bickerdike welcomed the committee's action, claiming that in many locations, proposals for new active travel routes are now in doubt because HE is seeking infilling and demolition without engineering justification.

“It is unsustainable for the Government to allow vandalism of this kind if it expects us to take seriously its stated commitment to driving an active travel revolution,” he said.

As highlighted in issue 277, HE has appointed outside contractor NPX to manage the HRE. NPX, a joint venture between Network Plus and Xeiad, was awarded a 10-year framework for the HRE Examination contract and began work in April.

Elsewhere, Herefordshire Council has just refused HE planning permission for the infilling of two disused railway bridges spanning the proposed route of a greenway, extending for 20 miles between Hereford and Hay-on-Wye.

It had been claimed that urgent action was needed ‘to prevent an emergency arising,' despite both bridges showing no signs of being overloaded.

However, council officers said that the infillings were incompatible with the local authority's adopted policies on heritage, ecology and sustainable transport.