Why it's important to to keep the Level Crossing at Moorgate Halt open

Editor,

There are a number of sensible and compelling reasons for insisting that Network Rail honoor its legal responsibility to keep open the public right of way that crosses the railway tracks at Moorgate Halt.

This is and always has been a useful and convenient right of way and one which I like many other people have used fairly regularly for the last 50 years or more.

Reasons:

1. This is a public “right” of way one which Network Rail have a legal duty to maintain and to keep open.

They have twice requested permission to close it and that permission has twice been refused.

Network Rail were told to go away and submit a plan to keep it open; the current proposals do not keep the existing right of way open and are therefore unacceptable.

2. Moorgate Halt is a well used and convenient footpath used not just by the people who live in Saddleworth, but also by people from all over Oldham and blocking off any section of the footpath network will also block of access to the many other public footpaths that connect with it.

So there will be a broader “knock-on" effect.

The proposed alternative route, quite apart from it’s hazardous and dilapidated state and the physical difficulty of negotiating it (anyone with a pram or simply with even mild mobility issues will find it all but impossible to negotiate) even in good weather and in poor conditions it will potentially be quite dangerous for many people.

3. As someone who has studied for the NEBOSH Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety, in my opinion the risk is being much exaggerated and in practice it would still be significantly less than that involved in crossing any main road.

What might be helpful is better signalling which would reduce the hazard even further.

4. The “neglected public underpass 440m – around a six minute walk – south of the crossing could ‘keep people safe and off the tracks” if developed by the scheme, bosses say "is neglected for a good reason because it a difficult, unpleasant and physically demanding route, especially for anyone getting older" and to anyone who thinks that’s only going to involve a short and easy detour of about half a kilometer and only six minutes I suggest that they actually try to walk it and see how far they get and how long it really takes?

They'll be unpleasantly surprised.

5. Cost. Network Rail have plenty of unspent money available to arrange for a safe and accessible crossing at Moorgate Halt since “Network Rail has today apologized after admitting that it failed to spend £65 million of funding allocated to improving access at rail stations.”

So they have adequate fund available to provide a safe crossing without any need to close the footpath.

6. There’s also a broader issue here of weather it’s a good idea to allow companies like Rail Track have carte blanche to do whatever they please regardless of the negative and disruptive impact that it will have on all the people and the communities who rely on these routes to go about their everyday affairs whether simply getting to work, visiting friends and neighbours or for recreation.

A footbridge would probably still be second best alternative to simply leaving things as they are and the claim that bridge has to be ruled out because of ‘engineering complexity’ strikes me as disingenuous since there are already several perfectly good footbridges (there's one at Greenfield Station) that cross the railway lines in other locations without the slightest problem.

Jeremy Paul Craig-Weston

Derker

The views expressed are those of the author of the letter and not those of Oldham Chronicle.