Great Harwood to Burnley Disused Railway

Site Description

The former Great Harwood - Burnley Railway covers a distance of 12km and runs through the three districts of Hyndburn, Ribble Valley and Burnley. Part of the route was still in use as a railway as recently as 1993. In addition to passing through or close to the settlements of Great Harwood, Read, Simonstone and Padiham the railway also provided a link into the former Padiham power station, (now Shuttleworth Meade Business Park). The route passes through both urban and rural areas and over the impressive Martholme Viaduct, which is a listed building, as it crosses the River Calder.

Grid Reference: 374500 432360

Size: 49ha

Site Boundary

View the site boundary (size 1.1mb)

Current Status

A significant length of the route in Hyndburn between Great Harwood and Martholme Viaduct has already been reclaimed as a footpath and cycleway but there are gaps and in certain areas development has taken place blocking the line of the former railway.

The section of the route in Ribble Valley runs from Martholme Viaduct to the rear of Simonstone Business Park then crosses the A6068 Barrowford Road. East of Martholme Viaduct there are several sections of the railway in private ownership with no public access. There are also several bridges missing along this section of the railway most notably across Simonstone Lane and in some areas the route is now overgrown with vegetation and it is difficult to tell where the line of the former railway once ran.

The route within Burnley Borough runs from Shuttleworth Meade Business Park in the west, across a viaduct over the River Calder and through the centre of Padiham linking to Mollywood Lane and the Leeds - Liverpool Canal in the south. This section of the route is far more urban in character as it runs through the centre of Padiham and the railway tracks are still in place. There is also a significant amount of informal use of the railway in this area.

Previous Use

The railway was still in use by passenger trains as recently as 1957 when the three former stations of Padiham, Simonstone and Great Harwood were closed. Freight services continued along the route until 1964 although some trains continued to use the route to access the former Padiham Power Station until 1993.

Proposed Use

The REMADE scheme proposes to create a greenway with pedestrian, cycle and horse access along the length of the former Great Harwood - Burnley railway line. Planning permission was secured for a footpath/bridleway/cycleway for the section of the route from Mollywood Lane, Rose Grove to Padiham Memorial Park in April 2005 and this is likely to be Phase 1 of the REMADE scheme. In addition to creating the greenway new access points onto the route are also to be created as part of this phase of the scheme. Reinstating missing bridges is likely to be a key element of the scheme through Ribble Valley. Towards the western end of the route at Great Harwood potential enhancements to the existing cycleway and investigating completing missing sections will be the focus of the REMADE scheme.

Aerial Photo

View an aerial photo of the site. (size 596kb)

Design

The design for Phase 1 of the REMADE scheme (Mollywood Lane - Padiham Memorial Park) commenced in December 2006 and a stakeholders group has been established to steer the design process. Proposals for access points onto the route are currently being developed with the intention of completing the design by Summer 2008.

Work on the design for the remainder of the scheme (Padiham Memorial Park to Great Harwood) is scheduled to commence in Spring 2008 with a proposed start on this phase in early 2009.

Consultation

A drop in exhibition for the draft design for Phase 1 of the project took place on Monday 3rd December at Padiham Town Hall, Burnley Road, Padiham between 4pm and 7.30pm. Members of the public were able to view and comment on the draft design for the site and question members of the REMADE team. The draft design presented at the exhibition can be seen below:

• Drawing 1 - Masterplan (size 3.9mb)
• Drawing 2 - Zones 1a and 1b (size 2.8mb)
• Drawing 3 - Zones 2a and 2b (size 2.6mb)
• Drawing 4 - Zones 3a and 3b (size 2.8mb)
• Drawing 5 - Central Zone Option 1 (size 2.3mb)
• Drawing 6 - Central Zone Option 2 (size 2.2mb)

Additional consultation with local residents is currently taking place on design options for the Central Zone (Drawings 5 and 6 above).

Work in Progress

Advance work on cleaning vegetation along the track bed of the Padiham section started in March 2008. Work to some of the bridges and the lifting of the track will commence in April 2008, with a start on the main scheme expected in Summer 2008.

Sustrans Connect 2 Living landmarks bid

The Padiham section of the proposed REMADE scheme has been included in a short list of projects for a 50 million pound bid to the Living Landmarks Lottery by Sustrans, the sustainable transport charity behind the National Cycle Network.

On Wednesday 12th December it was announced that the Sustrans Connect 2 project had won The People's £50 Million lottery, the largest ever publicly-decided funding award. Connect 2 will cost £140m in total and aims to improve walking and cycle routes in 79 communities across the country.