Rail line home plan may still hit buffers

The Settle-Carlisle Railway Trust won the support of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority's planning committee to restore the Ribblehead stationmaster's house as a home when it met earlier this week.

But the final decision will be made by the authority next month and unless it backs the plan, the future of the historic building is in doubt.

David Ward, chairman of the trust, which owns the building, said: "It will certainly have a very bleak future if we do not get this permission."

The trust has looked at turning the building into a holiday let – which was not deemed to be viable.

"The only other option is to put it back to the stationmaster's house," added Mr Ward. "The intention is that we would fully restore it externally back to the way Midland Railway built it in the 19th century.

"At the moment it's semi-derelict so something needs to be done with it."

Friends of the Settle-Carlisle Line chairman, Mark Rand, told the park authority planning committee he believed the only viable option now was the proposed change of use, when it met on Tuesday.

The Friends restored the once derelict station at Ribblehead and it has become an award-winning visitor centre.

The stationmaster's house was in private ownership until 1967 and then for a short period was used for outward bounds courses but that ceased well before the railway trust bought it in 2006.

At that time it was derelict but has since been kept weatherproof and received basic maintenance.