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Quotations from the Letters of Support |
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‘I am pleased to give my unequivocal support …I look forward to travelling such a beautiful route to my native County of Yorkshire’
-- C.Cllr Richard Shepherd (West Lancashire East)
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SELRAP envelope and car stickers |
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Use on your mail and car
to spread the word!
For more info click here
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Accrington Stanley Football Club
Airedale Springs Ltd
Barnfield Construction
Blackburn Rovers Football Club
Blackpool Football Club
Bradford & Bingley plc
Buoyant Upholstery Ltd
Burnley Football Club
C & H Brown, Skipton
CBI North West
CBI Yorkshire and the Humber
Carlo's Restaurant, Colne
Catholic Building Society
Choice, Keighley
Craven Cameras, Skipton
Cravendale Guest House
Dales (Contracts) Ltd
Dales Renewables Ltd
East Lancs Chamber of Commerce
Eco Design Architectural Practice
Ecology Building Society
Electrical Sales Ltd
Elevate East Lancashire
Environmental Transport Association
E-ON Energy
Good Energy
Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce
Green Express Railtours
Herriots Hotel, Skipton
Homeloan Management Ltd
Hudson & Pearson Ltd
Jim's Vegetarian Restaurant, Colne
Leeds Building Society
Leeds Carnegie Rugby Union
Leeds Rhinos Rugby League
Mailbox Mouldings international Ltd
Mailbox Mouldings international Ltd (Eire)
Marsden Building Society
Medstor
Merseyside PTA
Micrex-Profiles
Micropol
NR Automatics (Engineering ) Ltd
North & Western Lancashire Chamber of Commerce
North East Railtours
Opera House Manchester
Opto International Inc (USA)
Opto Mailbox International (Sweden)
Opto Systems GMBH (Germany)
Oswaldtwistle Mills
Paperback
Protec Fire Detection plc
Red Triangle Vegetarian Café, Burnley
Rossiter & Co
S & J Engineering
Sefton Chamber of Commerce & Industry
Skipton Building Society
Skipton Chamber of Trade & Commerce
Stable Cross B & B, Colne
Studio 127, Keighley
Suma Wholefoods
The Keighley & Worth Valley Light Railway Ltd
The Palace theatre, Manchester
The Phone Coop
The Pumpkin, Skipton
The Stamford Group Ltd
The Sweet Shop, Skipton
The Vacuum Shop, Keighley
Wigan Warriors Rugby League
Yorkshire Building Society |
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County Councillors
Lancashire (35):
Terry Aldridge
Albert Atkinson
Timothy Ashton
Malcolm Barron
Jean Battle
Terry Burns
Mike Calvert
Susie Charles
Chris Cheetham
Christopher Coates
William Cropper
Shelagh Derwent
Sarah Fishwick
Christopher Holtom
Jennifer Mein
Tim Ormrod
David O'Toole
Miles Parkinson
Mark Perks
Tony Pimblett
Doreen Pollitt (Deputy Leader)
Sonia Robinson
Duncan Ruddick
Elizabeth Scott
Tom Sharratt
Richard Shepherd
Joyce Stuart
Stephen Sutcliffe
Matthew Tomlinson
Colin Walton
Michael Welsh
Dorothy Westell
Francis Williams
Valerie Wilson
Jean Yates
North Yorkshire (21):
Dr Keith Barnes
Eric Broadbent
Rob Broadley
Gordon Charlton
Margaret-Ann De Courcey-Bailey
Polly English
John Fletcher
John Fort BEM
Heather Garnett
Richard Hall
David Heather
Robert Heseltine
Bill Hoult
Michael Knaggs
Carl Les
Morris Lightfoot
Steve Macare
J.W. Marshall
Shelagh Marshall
Leslie Parkes
John Wren
Other:
George Askew (Pendle)
Lin Barrington (Craven)
Jon Barry (Lancaster)
David Blackburn (Leeds - Leader of the Green Group)
Martyn Bolt (Kirklees & WYPTA)
Warren Bradley, Leader, Liverpool City Council
Mark Dowd OBE, Chair Merseyside PTA (Liverpool)
Peter Dowd, Leader, Labour Group, Sefton Council
Mike Gardner, Leader Harrogate Council
Morris Horsfield (Pendle)
Martin Love (Bradford)
Tony Robertson (Sefton)
Duncan Ruddick, Leader Rossendale Borough Council
Margaret Smith, Leader South Ribble Borough Council
James Keith Starkie (Pendle)
Chris Tennant (Pendle)
Violet Vaughan (Pendle)
Geoffrey Wainwright (Calderdale & WYPTA)
Professor John Whitelegg (Lancaster)
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The Most Revd John Sentamu, Archbishop of York
The Rt Revd Nicholas Reade, Bishop of Blackburn
The Rt Rev David James, Bishop of Bradford
The Rt Revd Graham Dow, Bishop of Carlisle
The Rt Revd Peter Forster, Bishop of Chester
The Rt Rev Patrick O’Donoghue, Bishop of Lancaster
The Rt Revd Arthur Roche, Bishop of Leeds
The Rt Revd John Packer, Bishop of Ripon and Leeds
The Rt Revd James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool
The Rt Revd Nigel McCulloch, Bishop of Manchester
Yorkshire Baptist Association
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WELCOME To Skipton East Lancs Railway Action Partnership
We are a volunteer campaign group whose
aim is to campaign for the re-instatement of the Colne-Skipton
line as a trans-pennine route, a part of the national network,
linking the Aire Valley and Yorkshire to East Lancashire, Manchester,
Preston and beyond.
Let us know what you think of the site.
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A member of the public has put a petition for the Skipton to Colne re-opening on the Downing Street petitions website.
If you are already a supporter, please sign this petition and spread the word to your friends.
If not, could I ask you to look round the website and if you then agree with our campaign, please sign the petition.
To sign click here
Thanks for your time.
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SELRAP featured on BBC Radio 4 programme ‘You & Yours’ Monday 7th April, 2008
Reporter Mark Holstock examined the question ‘Could closed lines be reopened?’
Featured on the programme were SELRAP’s Andy Shackleton and Edith Sheldrick and our campaign to re-open Skipton to Colne.
Stephen Joseph, Director of the Campaign for Better Transport (formerly Transport 2000) made the case for rail re-openings while Cllr Stella Smedley, Cabinet Member for the Environment Nottinghamshire County Council, Jim Bamford, Rail Officer Nottinghamshire County Council and local residents spoke of the success of the last line reopened in England, the Robin Hood Line, over 10 years ago and under British Rail,
To listen to the ‘You & Yours’ report click here
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The latest edition of our newsletter has just been released and can be downloaded in electronic format, PDF, along with previous releases here
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Three members of the SELRAP committee travelled to London on March 10 to present the case for re-opening the Skipton-Colne railway line to Members of both Houses of Parliament. 
The group, headed by chairman Derek Jennings and including Andy Shackleton and Frank Filardo, addressed the All Party Parliamentary Rail Group in Committee Room 7 of the Palace of Westminster, quite an imposing venue and audience for a volunteer campaign group!!
Some of the audience are seen in our picture, from left to right: Gordon Prentice (MP for Pendle), Lord Tony Berkeley, Lord Bruce Grocott, Norman Baker MP, Lord Richard Faulkner and Kelvin Hopkins MP. SELRAP chairman Derek Jennings is seen on the far right of picture . The pictures were taken by Andy Shackleton – and note that the group are holding copies of SELRAP’s eye-catching ‘CravenRail’ newsletter!! Among others attending was Skipton and Ripon MP David Curry.
Derek Jennings comments: “SELRAP’s campaign is really hitting the high notes, and we are increasingly recognised in high places as a more than just a volunteer group. The impact created by the campaign goes far beyond what one normally associates with such groups.
Andy did his usual expert presentation on our campaign and we were then able to answer Members’ questions and discuss our aims further.
SELRAP is very grateful to Gordon Prentice for having set up this meeting, and we are sure it will lead to a far better understanding of the case for re-opening the Skipton-Colne railway within Westminster, where our impact will grow over the coming months.”
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144 Councils from across the North of England support our campaign to re-open the Colne to Skipton railway:
• 4 Unitary: Blackpool, Bradford, Liverpool & Wigan
• 1 County Council: North Yorkshire
• 11 District Councils: Burnley, Chorley, Craven, Fylde, Harrogate, Hyndburn, Lancaster, Pendle, Preston, Wyre & West Lancashire
• 23 Town Councils
• 105 Parish Councils
The reopening is in the Lancashire and North Yorkshire Local Transport Plans.
We also have the support of the Leaders of South Ribble and Rossendale District Councils
Click read full story below for the full list of parish and town councils
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SELRAP’s campaign has the support of a wide variety of businesses including a bank, 6 Building Societies, 3 large manufacturing concerns, a construction company, two large stores with multiple outlets, a national Car Breakdown Service, 2 national Power Supply Companies, a national phone company, a theatre, a food wholesaler, several co-ops, small businesses, 2 restaurants, shops, 4 football clubs, 3 rugby clubs, a Guest House, CBI North West, CBI Yorkshire and the Humber and 5 Chambers of Trade and Commerce.
The Campaign also has the backing of the General Secretaries of all 4 Rail Unions ASLEF, RMT, TSSA & UNITE as well as the Lancashire Association of TUCs and the Yorkshire & Humberside TUC Regional Council.
Merseyside PTA also backs the campaign as does award winning film director Ken Loach.
For the full list of business support, scroll down on the left of this page.
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Special 'jumbo' membership cards were presented to three new SELRAP
Members by chairman Derek Jennings on Skipton station on January 23,
2008.
 From Left to right, Steve Broadbent (SELRAP Press Officer),
Councillors Polly and Paul English, representing Skipton Town Council
and Joan Evans, President of the Skipton Chamber of Commerce and
Trade, both of which organsations have recently joined as SELRAP
Group Members. Fourth from the left is the Mayor of Skipton,
Councillor Carole Manley, who became the group's 300th paid-up Member
on the special train which SELRAP ran between Colne and Skitpon on
October 28, 2007. On the far right is SELRAP Chairman Derek Jennings.
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The Northenden (Manchester) and Harrogate branches of University of the Third Age (U3A) have become the 49th and 50th NGOs (non-governmental organisation) to back the re-opening of the Skipton to Colne railway.
Harrogate U3A Chairman Janet Coatman, writes that “the link would enhance communication across the Pennines and offer an alternative to the congested trans-Pennine roads.
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 | Another important milestone in SELRAP's campaign to see the Skipton-Colne railway line re-opened was reached on Friday January 18 when a delegation from the group met with Brian Simpson, Member of the European Parliament and Director, North West Rail Campaign, in his St Helens office.
"We are delighted with the rapport we established with Mr Simpson", says SELRAP chairman Derek Jennings, "he very much agreed with the strategy we have adopted and gave us several useful pointers for the future, including advice that we should concentrate on seeking a high-quality trans-pennine railway and that we should engage with the European Parliament. SELRAP looks forward to developing relations with both Mr Simpson and the North West Rail Campaign. " |
Our photo (meeting with Brian Simpson.jpg) shows, Left to Right: Brian Simpson, Andy Shackleton (SELRAP Liaison Officer), Derek Jennings (SELRAP Chairman), Emma Antrobus (Coordinator, NW Rail Campaign), and David Penney (SELRAP Planning & Development Officer)
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Continuing its efforts to secure support from key individuals and organisations for its campaign to see the Skipton-Colne railway line re-opened, SELRAP is delighted to have received four more such messages, all from the Preston/Wigan area, in the last few days.
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SELRAP's campaign has the backing of the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN), Bradford University, the University of Bolton, the University of Manchester Students' Union, the University of Bolton Students' Union, Burnley, Nelson & Colne, Craven and Park Lane Keighley Colleges, Skipton Girls High School, Colne Primet High School, Pendle District Youth Council and Burnley Play Association. We also have the support of the U3A (University of the Third Age) branches in Bebington, Bromborough,Chorley, Formby, Harrogate, Northenden, Richmond, Sale, Warrington, Wirral & York as well as the Lancashire Link Network of U3AS
We have the support of 3 NHS Primary Care Trusts: East Lancashire, Bradford & Airedale and Calderdale.
Blackpool, Blackburn Rovers, Accrington Stanley and Burnley Football Clubs, Leeds Carnegie Rugby Union, Leeds Rhinos Rugby League and Wigan Warriors Rugby League want the reopening as do The Ramblers Association nationally, their North East Lancashire Area Clitheroe Group, Colne Cycling Campaign, Pendle Leisure Trust and Pendle Forest Cycling Club.
For quotes from education and health perspectives, click on 'read full article' below
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 | The Missing Link - a short video documenting the first train from Colne to Skipton for 37 years is now available for viewing online at Youtube. It is divided into five parts. The full high quality DVD version can also be purchased through this site. |
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 | Glyn Ford, Graham Watson, Giles Chichester, Neil Parish and Roger Knapman from the South West Region and Fiona Hall from the North East Region are some of the most recent MEPs to come on board along with David Sumberg. His support means that besides having he backing of all Yorkshire & Humberside MEPs, we now have the support of all of the North West MEPs |
Neil Parish is Chairman of the Agriculture Committee in the European Parliament
Our most recent supporters are Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne from the South East and Glenis Willmott from the East Midlands. We also have the backing of our first MEP from the East of England region, Andrew Duff and Michael Cashman and Neena Gill's support means we have the backing of 6 of the 7 MEPs for the West Midlands. We have support from Scotland and Wales too.
For the full list of MEPs (Over a third of all UK MEP's) click 'Read the full article' below
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 | | The most recent Members of the House of Lords to send a Letter of Support for our Campaign are Lord Lofthouse of Pontefract, Lord Roberts of Llandudno, Viscount Tenby, Lord Graham of Edmonton, Lord Rodgers of Quarry Bank, Lord Stokes, Lord Slim and Lord Cameron of Dillington.Amongst members of Parliamentary Committees backing our campaign are:
6 out of the 10 members of the Crossrail Bill Select Committee
6 out of the 10 members of the Transport Select Committee including the Chair
11 out of the 27 members of the Parliamentary Rail Group
7 out of the 21 members of the Parliamentary West Coast Main Line Group.
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For the full list of House of Lords support click ‘Read the full article’ below.
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| | The latest MPs to support our campaign are Douglas Carswell (Harwich), Andrew Stunnell (Hazel Grove), Danny Alexander (Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey), Richard Younger-Ross (Teignbridge), Alan Beith (Berwick-upon-Tweed), Steve Webb (Northavon), Tim Yeo (South Suffolk), Adrian Sanders (Torbay), Roger Williams (Brecon and Radnorshire), Paul Rowen (Rochdale), David Crausby (Bolton North East), Anne McIntosh (Vale of York), Derek Twigg (Halton), Michael Clapham (Barnsley West & Penistone), the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg (Sheffield Hallam), Rt Hon George Haworth (Knowsley North & Sefton East), Jeff Ennis (Barnsley East & Mexborough), Lynne Jones (Birmingham Selly Oak), Mark Hunter (Cheadle), Joan Walley (Stoke-on-Trent North), David Heyes (Ashton-under-Lyne), Angela Smith (Sheffield Hillsborough),Mike Wood (Batley & Spen),Virendra Sharma (Ealing Southall), Sir John Butterfill (Bournemouth West), Sharon Hodgson (Gateshead East and Washington West), Dave Anderson (Blaydon), Chris Mullin (Sunderland South), Liberal Democrat Shadow Minister for Transport John Leech (Manchester Withington), Fraser Kemp (Houghton & Washington East), Tobias Ellwood (Bournemouth East), Conservative Shadow Minister for Culture, Media & Sport, Norman Lamb (North Norfolk), Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Health and former Labour Minister Rt Hon Ian McCartney (Makerfield).
Ian McCarney's backing means we now have the support of all four MPs for Wigan Metro as well as Wigan Council.
In all we have the support of 126 MPs.
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Click below to see the full list
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A new independent study into the re-opening of the Skipton-Colne railway line was launched by SELRAP at a Briefing at Herriots Hotel in Skipton last Friday (November 30) where the audience heard totally positive support voiced by all the speakers, including two Members of Parliament. SELRAP, the Skipton-East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership campaigns for the re-opening of this line as part of the national network.
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A new study, launched by SELRAP in Skipton last Friday (November 30) into the re-opening of the Skipton-Colne railway line is very positive, and takes SELRAP’s campaign to a new level, the group says.
Produced by the Leeds office of the national firm JMP Consulting in full compliance with Department for Transport (DfT) guidelines, the report looks at the costs and benefits associated with the re-opening. |
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SELRAP, the Skipton-East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership, warmly welcomes the inclusion of the possible re-opening of the Skipton to Colne railway line in Network Rail’s new Strategic Business Plan.
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Chorley has become the latest Lancashire local authority to adds its name to the growing support in the county for the re-opening of the Colne-Skipton line, which is the target of a campaign by SELRAP, the Skipton-East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership.
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Well over 200 people packed on to the 0958 for Skipton at Colne Railway Station on Sunday, 28 October ready for a 150-mile highly-scenic round trip on only the second train to link the towns in 37 years.
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A Great Day out as well as getting the message across! That was the verdict on SELRAP’s charter train from Colne to Skipton on Sunday October 28 to highlight its campaign that the 11.5 mile “Missing Link” between the two towns should be restored as part of the national rail network. Hundreds of people enjoyed the trip, among them the Mayors of Pendle and Skipton, and to complete it, the sun came out!
Thanks to local Travel Agents Althams for handling the ticket sales as well as to the organisers and Northern Rail
For photos click here
For the Mayor of Pendle's thoughts on the journey go to here
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The latest edition of our newsletter has just been released and can be downloaded in electronic format, both PDF and Word, along with previous releases here
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On Sunday April 1st a train packed with 286 paying passengers ran from Colne to Skipton and back. Surprising, you might be forgiven for thinking ..... what with the rail line between the two towns having been closed since 1970.
Another first from SELRAP, this was no April Fool. Operated by Northern Rail, the first train to run between the two towns since closure of the 11.5 mile direct line 37 years ago had to follow a convoluted 50 mile route via Burnley, Blackburn and Hellifield ..... a journey that also involved two reversals of direction!
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AFFILIATED GROUPS/BODIES (39) |
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Addingham Parish Council
Aire Valley Rail User Group
Barrowford Parish Council
Blacko Parish Council
Blackpool & Fylde Rail Users Association
Bradford Rail Users Group
Burnley Friends of the Earth
Campaign for Better Transport
Campaign for the Preservation of Rural England
CAMRA East Lancashire
Colne Cycling Campaign
Craven Voluntary Action
Dales (Contracts) Ltd
Dales Renewables Ltd
Draughton Parish Council
Earby Parish Council
Eco Design Arhitectural Practice
Electrical Sales Ltd
Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway Trust
Foulridge Parish Council
Friends of the Settle-Carlisle Line
Kirklees Green Party
Lancaster & Skipton Rail User Group
Long Preston Parish Council
Midland Railway Society
Pendle Community Credit Union
Pendle Environmental Network
Rail Future Yorkshire
Red Triangle Vegetarian Café
Reedley Hallows Parish Council
Ribble Valley Rail
Save the East Lancashire Line Association
Skipton Chamber of Trade & Commerce
Skipton Town Council
The Keighley & Worth Valley Light Railway Ltd
Todmorden Town Council
Trawden Parish Council
Unite the Union (Amicus), Burnley Branch
Worsthorne-with-Hurstwood Parish Council
If you are a member of a group,
please encourage them to affiliate.
It’s just £10 pa for groups
Contact us for a membership form or download the membership leaflet opposite
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SUPPORTING ORGANISATIONS (209) |
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Burnley Action Partnership Community Plan for Burnley
Bradford District Transport Strategy 2006-2021
Colne Connected Action Plan
Earby Vital Villages Initiative
Lancashire Economic Strategy
Lancashire Environment Strategy
Lancashire Partnerships Community Strategy
Lancashire Local Transport Plan
Local Agenda 21
North West Regional Economic Strategy
North Yorkshire Local Transport Plan
Northern Way Strategy – Connecting City RegionsTrans-European Networks – Rail Transport Schemes
Trawden Parish Plan
Pendle Borough Council/LSP
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Links to other Rail Campaigns |
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