CAMPAIGNERS fighting to save the historic Queensbury Tunnel from closure have raised concern over a £500,000 viability study, which they claim will be undertaken without engineers carrying out any inspections.

The tunnel has been at the centre of a long-standing wrangle as the battle continues to bring it back into use as part of a new foot and cycle path. In July, the Government committed £1 million to two studies. The West Yorkshire Combined Authority, working with councils, is developing the business case for an active travel route connecting Bradford and Halifax via the tunnel, whilst Highways England is conducting a technical study into repair options for the structure and their associated costs.

Campaigners claim that floodwater has accumulated through the southern half of the 1.4-mile tunnel due to Highways England failing to pay the £50 annual rent on a pumping station, resulting in it being switched off, and that it has “consistently suggested that the water will be causing the masonry lining to deteriorate, jeopardising prospects for reopening”.

Graeme Bickerdike, Engineering Coordinator for Queensbury Tunnel Society, claimed the landowner’s offer to enter into “positive dialogue” over the pump situation was ignored and there is now a “farcical situation” of a desktop study from old reports.

Mr Bickerdike added: “The Government promised a study that would offer a definitive view of what’s required, helping to ‘build a consensus around the findings’. But how can anyone have confidence in the results of expensive guesswork?”

Campaigners’ hackles have also risen over the firm chosen to undertake the study, which will be carried out by Jacobs, with input from AMCO-Giffen. It comes amid a contradiction in costings for the tunnel’s repair, with Jacobs putting it at £35.4m in 2016 and a 2018 study, commissioned by Bradford Council and carried out by AECOM, putting it at £6.9 million.

QTS leader Norah McWilliam said: “One clear message from lockdown is the public’s enthusiasm for walking and cycling if safe, high-quality infrastructure is available. We have the opportunity to build a better future after the pandemic.”

A Highways England spokesperson said: “We have continued to carry out inspections of the areas that we can safely access inside Queensbury Tunnel, including detailed examinations along the length of the tunnel, surveys from the northern entrance to beyond shaft two and inspections along the dry sections of tunnel.

"Our technical report will use all the available data collected by experienced tunnel engineers who have spent several years working inside this tunnel.”

They said detailed examinations took place along the length of the tunnel in 2018, while in 2019 surveys were carried out from the northern entrance to just beyond shaft two, but this couldn’t proceed due to flooding. Then in 2020 inspections were undertaken along all the dry sections of the tunnel.

The Telegraph & Argus contacted Jacobs for comment, but was told it had been passed on to Highways England, which is managing enquiries relating to the tunnel.

The T&A was told by Highways England the statement issued was the final one.

The findings of the two studies are expected by the end of March, after which the Department for Transport will consider the case for funding the greenway scheme from its active travel budgets.