DEALING with a flood has added to the cost of the first phase of work to close Queensbury Tunnel.

The southern half of the tunnel has been inundated by an estimated 6.6 million gallons of water after Highways England, which is responsible for the tunnel, failed to pay two annual rent payments of £50 for land on which a pumping station is sited, resulting in the equipment being switched off by the landowner.

The dewatering operation and other strengthening works will add more than £400,000 to the bill for phase one, taking it to nearly £1 million, according to figures obtained in a Freedom of Information request by the Queensbury Tunnel society.

But a spokesman for Highways England said the £3.6m overall bill to fill in the tunnel should not be affected as some of the phase one work will cut phase two costs.

The spokesman said: “We understand Bradford Council is considering a potential transfer of the tunnel so it could be re-opened and used as a local sustainable transport corridor. Any such transfer could be quickly achieved.

"Works undertaken during phase one of the safety works are not prejudicial to any plans to re-open the tunnel."

Phase one is expected to be complete in the spring.

The spokesman added: “The safety of the community and our contractors is paramount and the Department for Transport, the owners of the tunnel, agree that safety work to reduce the risk to the community around Queensbury Tunnel should be undertaken as soon as possible. We’re working with Bradford Council on the preparation of the planning application for phase two of our safety work. It’s not expected that a final decision on the application will now be reached until spring 2019.

"Phase one of the proposed work has started and involves partial strengthening of the most vulnerable areas of the tunnel which will also provide a safe working area throughout the tunnel for any future work undertaken. Delivery of phase one has been made more difficult by the recent diversion of water from Strines Beck into the already flooded southern portal.

"This has directly increased the water levels within the tunnel and the safety risks to our contractors and potentially to the integrity of the tunnel. Our earlier decision to discharge water from the northern section of the tunnel into the existing tunnel drainage system has allowed our contractors to reduce the impact of this additional inflow of water.

Graeme Bickerdike, engineering co-ordinator for the Queensbury Tunnel Society, said: “HRE [Highways England’s Historical Railway Estate] has lost control of this project, largely through its own failings. The public will receive no benefit from abandonment, but the financial burden placed on its shoulders is becoming heavier. Perversely, £1 million is currently being spent improving the tunnel’s condition before a further £3 million is wasted on a partial infilling scheme. It’s becoming an implausible farce.”

Norah McWilliam, leader of the society, said: “Shortly, we expect HRE to ask Bradford Council for permission to progress abandonment. Most of the tunnel beneath Queensbury would be left to collapse. HRE hopes that the tunnel is so deep that the 440 dwellings within its zone of influence would not be affected by any collapse, but how can we have confidence in their assessment of the complex risks when they prove persistently incapable to doing the basics competently?”

For the cycle path proposal to go ahead, the society says the tunnel’s ownership would have to be transferred to Bradford Council, for which it would receive a £3 million dowry. Funding is currently being sought for a feasibility study into the issues associated with the tunnel’s reopening, whilst the council’s Executive Committee is expected to consider the Victorian structure’s future at a meeting in February.