Archive, June 2022: a bid to the Restoring Your Railway fund was not selected.
In 2022, a bid to the government’s Restoring Your Railway fund for the Peaks and Dales line was not selected for funding.
The Department for Transport’s June 2022 programme update listed Peaks and Dales among unsuccessful Ideas Fund bids. Other proposals were at different stages of development.
The proposal has been controversial, with strong views both for and against reopening the line along the 8.5-mile trail. A decision on this funding bid did not itself end the wider campaign.
The Midland Railway route closed in 1968. Most of the Monsal Trail opened in 1981; four formerly closed railway tunnels opened in 2011, creating a continuous route.
The Manchester and East Midlands Rail Action Partnership (MEMRAP) campaigned for the reopening of the Peaks and Dales line. It argued that improved rail links could benefit the Peak District’s tourism trade.
Opponents campaigned to retain the trail. By October 2021, more than 13,000 people had signed a petition to protect it.
The traffic-free trail is used by walkers, cyclists, horse riders and wheelchair users. A national park transport report recorded around 330,000 visits in 2018; use rose after pandemic restrictions eased in 2020.
Update, 2026: Derbyshire County Council voted in May to support reopening the line. In June, the National Park Authority said its emerging local plan was likely to safeguard the route as a trail.
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