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The cold snap of wintry weather proved off-putting for many for the latest public presentation on the campaign for the reinstatement of the former Midland Railways mainline through the Peaks & Dales of Derbyshire, at the excellent venue of the Uniting Church in Whaley Bridge last Thursday evening.

 

Stephen Chaytow of the Manchester and East Midlands Rail Action Partnership (MEMRAP) introduced what turned out to be a very successful public presentation with an overwhelmingly supportive response from those who braved the inclement conditions to attend.

 

An opportunity for wider public engagement was lost, however, as the three candidates for the forthcoming East Midlands mayoral election heeded the Met Office weather warnings by not attempting travel to the High Peak on the day. A perfect demonstration of how the borough has been effectively isolated from the rest of Derbyshire and the southeast since the closure of the railway in 1968.

 

An audience of some 50 interested locals heard details of MEMRAP proposals for the upgrading of 23 miles of existing track, to facilitate passenger traffic as well as the current freight-only, and the reinstatement of 13 miles of railway on existing infrastructure to, once again, link Chinley and Buxton to Ambergate via Matlock by rail. Plus, re-routing alternatives for a reprovisioned Monsal Trail.

 

Plans were said to include the recommissioning of former stations, such as Chapel Central, Millers Dale, and at Bakewell, assisting in the Peak District National Park Authority's current road traffic reduction drive to encourage as many as possible of its 13 million annual visitors to access its leisure facilities by public transport, rather than private car. In the case of the railway, by trains designed with dedicated cycle carriages, complemented by a “last mile” connectivity strategy to network with localised bus and taxi services.

 

Pertinent questions were raised by members of the public during a Q&A session in which Mr. Chaytow fielded queries on various issues, from; how the Peaks & Dales line would help alleviate rail traffic from the overburdened west coast mainline following cancellation of HS2; the integration of cycling infrastructure with a future rail network; to the inertia within Derbyshire County Council to progressing the line reinstatement, and its apparent opposition to it.

 

In the absence of the mayoral candidates, county councillor Ruth George, representing the division of Whaley Bridge, addressed the public forum and pledged to work with the newly created mayor, in her capacity as Deputy leader of the DCC Labour group, while emphasising that the creation of a combined East Midlands authority will make it more important for remote and outlying communities to be re-connected to the authority’s centre. She further opined that young people, who typically depend on public transport, are generally supportive and cannot understand why the railway reinstatement isn’t already happening.

 

The next stage for the campaign will be to achieve funding for a mandatory Strategic Outline Business Study, which, according to Ms. George, should be completed as soon as possible and become a priority via the office of the new Mayor, in order to circumvent the obstacles to it that County Hall has created.