TRANSPORT is a big issue in Cumbria but the county council is not keeping up.

Candidates for council seats have to earn votes next month, so here is a challenge for them. Cumbria County Council’s Local Transport Plan (LTP) should describe all the county’s transport needs, how they can be provided – and by whom.

National Government reads the LTP as a statement of what the county needs in total. Unfortunately in recent years the Cumbria LTP has only listed the county council’s own projects. Given limited finances and staff, that is just a fraction of what the county really needs.

The Keswick to Penrith Railway Project has been studiously avoided by the county council for more than a decade, despite having a design package ready, environmental impact assessments done and a business case proved.

This Project was listed in the first edition of the LTP many years ago, but dropped later - why?

CKP Railways plc (CKP), who developed the Railway Project, is not asking CCC to pay for the railway or to manage it. CKP and its partners have the knowledge and skills to finish the job. Potential private funders exist but need political certainty that the project can go ahead. Independent, private, funding like this would not divert money from vital needs, such as health or education.

National Government is the body to authorise construction of the railway, but only if it is shown as a local need – listed in the Local Transport Plan. All the county council has to do to allow the Keswick to Penrith Railway to proceed is to write supportive policies, vote them into force, publish them, sit back and wait.

As one of CKP’s supporters put it: “Why would the authorities refuse a gift of free infrastructure?” The Lake District National Park Authority has protected the route and included the railway in core policies. MPs at both ends of the route have shown interest. Now the county council must speak up.

Cumbria County Council helped found Rail North – nearly 30 local authorities guiding railway development across the north of England. Rail North knows about the CKP Project (apparently they consider it a ‘no brainer’) but can not help until CCC endorses it.

Hundreds of Cumbrians invested hundreds of thousands of pounds in the design and development of the railway through CKP Railways plc. They also pay council tax, business rates and other taxes which fund the county council. By ignoring the CKP Project, CCC is also using supporters’ money to delay the Keswick to Penrith Railway Project.

Cumbria County Council can not do everything. It must become an ‘enabler’ and let others do good work for the county.

A railway which would bring economic, social and environmental benefits to the North Lakes, Penrith and Eden, new east-west train services to Cumbria and improve connections to the Cumbrian Coast.

James Ingrams

Keswick