CAMPAIGNERS hoping to restore a rail link between East Lancashire and Yorkshire have reacted angrily to Pendle Council's leader branding their crusade "a pipe dream".

Councillor Alan Davies made his remarks at a council meeting after being asked by Coun David Whalley whether Pendle Council was alone in opposing the campaign to reinstate the rail link between Colne and Skipton.

Coun Davies said traffic problems in Colne, Foulridge and Earby needed to be relieved by a road bypass and that hopes for the re-opening of the rail line were unrealistic.

But campaigners from the Skipton East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership, a group set up to campaign for the preservation of the track bed, have claimed they have significant political support from Lancashire County Council, Craven and District Council and the area's MPs and MEPs.

Coun Davies said: "That railway line is not coming back on that track bed and as soon as we accept that as a fact we can get on and relieve the real problems.

"The whole of Pendle needs a bypass for economic reasons. There is a whole market in parts of West Yorkshire that this part of Pendle is struggling to get into.

"Quite clearly, we make our judgements based on our local circumstances.

"With the misery that traffic congestion in the area is causing, we know the only sensible way to mitigate that is to put a bypass in there."

SELRAP chairman Steve Broadbent said: "We are obviously very disappointed that Coun Davies is still opposed to the development of the railway.

"It would be a service for everybody in the borough, given that we are supported by all the MPs and MEPs which service the area and by many members of Pendle Council.

"It is a long shot, but we think it would be a huge help to the area. SELRAP would query whether a road would bring the same benefits."