In her speech Sara continued to lobby for the redevelopment of the Huncoat freight terminal and the Skipton to Colne railway line.
Working with local businesses and interest groups Sara has made the development of the terminal and rail line a centre piece of her plans to ensure Hyndburn and Haslingden benefits from the Government's levelling up agenda. During her time in office the project has moved along the Governments Rail Network Enhancement Pipeline and she is pressing for the Department for Transport to move ahead with an engineering study. This study is central to verifying the business value of the redevelopment - fortunately private studies have already been conducted and the combined rail line and freight terminal continue to offer huge benefits and good value for money for the tax payer.
In her speech Sara highlighted the need for both the freight terminal and rail line.
This project [Huncoat freight terminal] would also play a wider role in supporting the re-opening of the Skipton to Colne railway line because, for this line re-opening to be viable, it needs a major freight transport element. This has already been highlighted by the local authority and the campaign group SELRAP, who have indicated that passenger journeys alone will not make the business case strong enough for investment.
Here are Sara's closing remarks:
The reopening of the Skipton to Colne rail line and the development of the Huncoat freight terminal will show residents, and first-time Conservative voters, across East Lancashire that this Government is delivering on their promise to ‘level up’.
