A NEW pressure group has been set up to call for the restoration of the missing railway link between East Lancashire and Skipton in Yorkshire.

The line linking Blackburn, Burnley, Nelson and Colne with Skipton and through to Leeds was a victim of the Beeching axe and closed in January 1970.

The Skipton-East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership (SELRAP) regards the 11-mile missing link as a major national resource which needs to be reinstated to provide trans-Pennine and local rail services.

Group chairman Steve Broadbent said: "Until that goal can be attained SELRAP aims to ensure the trackbed is not adversely affected by development or any other preventable cause.

"Just at a time when a rail renaissance is happening all over the country, Lancashire County Council is still planning to destroy this crucial transpPennine resource by turning the trackbed into a major trunk road.

"We must not throw this resource away when it is most needed."

A secondary benefit of the Skipton-Colne railway reinstatement would be improved rail services along the present line between Blackburn and Colne.

He said: "That would bring benefits to all -- better mobility, faster, more comfortable journeys and less car usage and resultant air pollution along the M65 corridor."

SELRAP has already had three preliminary meetings in Colne and now intends to raise its profile.

Mr Broadbent added: "Once foot and mouth restrictions are well behind us the group will walk as much of the trackbed as is accessible and compile an initial feasibility study." SELRAP's affiliated bodies include the Support the East Lancashire Line Association, Friends of the Earth, Transport 2000, Railfuture (formerly Railway Development Society), the Council for the Protection of Rural England and rail user groups.

Mr Broadbent said SELRAP was only fighting for the railway and did not in itself have a view on the proposed M65 motorway extension from Colne towards Skipton.

That would, however, use the railway trackbed for much of its proposed route and every member body of SELRAP was strongly against the planned road scheme.

He added: "SELRAP's view is that if the road has to be built it should be done so as not to violate the trackbed or make re-instatement of the railway more expensive."