A Reform councillor has urged a Derbyshire council to stop “tinkering around with pleasantries” like walking and cycling and invest in railways.
Cllr David Harvey, who represents the Hardwick division on Derbyshire County Council and is chairman of its healthy scrutiny committee, made the statements in a meeting this week.
Councillors had been discussing funding and responsibilities for public transport in the county, including the powers moving up to the East Midlands Combined County Authority.
Members had discussed potential investment in railways, but were told by officers that the provision of rail services would remain a Department for Transport responsibility – resting with central government – and would not fall into the capabilities of the county council or combined authority.
However, lobbying for and building new routes or reinstating former tracks would be within scope.
Councillors were told that this may risk all money for public transport in the region being focused on one project, without the certainty that it would ever be able to be funded.
Cllr Sue Hobson, Conservative, had spoken about the value of investing in re-using former railway lines, converting them into walking and cycling tracks, such as the White Peak Loop, covering 42 miles of pathways through the Peak District.
Officials had said there was still strong input from pressure groups lobbying for and against reinstating now-converted former railway lines, such as the Monsal Trail.
Cllr Harvey, Reform, said: “As a country that is really struggling at the moment, we need to get back to manufacturing.
“This year is the 200th anniversary of the Stockton to Darlington railway, designed by George Stephenson, who is buried in Chesterfield.
“He was one of the great British engineers and we need to make Britain great once again.
“We need to be at the forefront of developing, engineering, manufacturing, technology, that is what we are really good at and we must bring this back.
“It is all very well having cycling and walking paths through the Peak District – it is very nice, I have done it myself, but we must have a focus on growing the economy.
“You can integrate cycling and railway tracks side by side, there is an awful lot we can do, and tinkering around with pleasantries like walking and cycling through the Peak District… we have got to realise that what is important is the economy in this country so I am fully supportive of any investment in the railways in the county of Derbyshire.”
Cllr Joseph Turrell, Reform member for Swadlincote West, said the town’s public transport was “terrible” with no railway station and a “dilapidated” old bus station.
He said 20-minute driving routes to Burton, the nearest railway station, took 40 to 50 minutes by bus on a good day and that the 30-minute drive to Derby would frequently take an hour on the bus.
Cllr Turrell said reopening the former Ivanhoe railway line connecting Burton through Castle Gresley to Leicester, a project which was scrapped by the Labour government, “seems logical”.
He was told that this option would remain with central government but investment in the bus station would soon fall within the purview of the combined authority.
