Government faces opposition over plans to infill or demolish 130 disused railway bridges and structures in the next five years, which campaigners say could sever or block future active travel routes.
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Highways England – which manages the historical railways estate – says the programme for which it has a £40M annual budget starting this year is intended to maintain public safety.
However a petition against the plans has been launched by an alliance of walking, cycling and heritage advocates known as the HRE Group and is gaining support, with a current total of almost 5000 signatures.
In a letter addressed to Transport Minister Chris Heaton-Harris, the group said the programme “includes many structures with very low risk rankings” and called for none to be infilled or demolished “without assessments first being undertaken” of each scheme’s impact on potential reuses of the structure.
This could include future ‘greenway’ schemes for walking and cycling. The plans may also jeopardise railway reopenings and extensions to heritage lines, it adds.
“It should be recognised that, in many cases, extensive repair will cost less than infilling and deliver similar benefits in respect of risk reduction and the long term financial burden of maintenance,” the letter reads.
Routes said to be under threat due to the current plans include a potential greenway near Alnwick in Northumberland, which would pass beneath two old rail bridges earmarked for infilling.
Responding to the campaign, a Highways England spokesman confirmed the plans to infill 115 bridges and remove 15 structures over the next five years “to maintain the safety of communities living near to historic railway estate structures, and the drivers who use the roads that cross them”.
The spokesman added: “Most of the bridges earmarked for infilling are over 100 years old and were never designed to carry the weight of modern traffic.
“We’ve contacted all local authorities affected to advise them of our plans and to see if they have any use for the structures. In addition, we have arranged for seven structures to be transferred to local authorities which aspire to use them for cycle routes.”
The HRE Group petition can be viewed here.
(Photograph: (Alastair Wallace - Shutterstock)
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