Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 21 October (HL Deb, col 1532), whether contracts have been agreed for the work to be undertaken under Stage 2 (Develop) of the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline (RNEP) relating to the reinstatement of the railway between Colne and Skipton; if so, with which persons or organisation were these contracts awarded to; whether this work has been paused as part of the review of the schemes in the RNEP; if so, when they expect a decision will be made to restart or otherwise; and what is the current status of the Colne-Skipton project.

I would like to reiterate my sincere apologies for an error made in my response during the debate on 21 October. The correct position of this scheme is that, following advice on the outcome of previous feasibility work, we have asked officials to bring forward specific proposals for approval for initial ‘Develop’ stage work on this reinstatement. Therefore, no contracts have been agreed yet. Officials are preparing proposals for consideration by Ministers for further work on the possible reinstatement of railway between Skipton and Colne and an announcement will be made shortly.