Huge £12m East Lancs Railway revamp revealed - the 10 year plan to transform spot into one of ‘UK's best heritage sites’

A huge £12m restoration project has been given the green light to transform the historic East Lancashire Railway into one of ‘the country’s best heritage sites’.

The legendary route, which welcomes more than 200,000 visitors to Bury a year, has been run as a charity for the past five decades.

A world-famous locomotive and carriage works site, it sometimes plays host to the most of all steam engines, The Flying Scotsman.

But its current buildings, at the Buckley Wells site, have been deteriorating and are in dire need of restoration.

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Now, a huge cash windfall has been approved to revamp the site.

Work includes restoring the listed 1857 locomotive works building and the construction of a new locomotive running shed along with workshops and a training centre.

A huge new carriage shed will also be built to store rolling stock undercover, which the railway said could double the lifespan of carriages.

At a meeting of Bury Council’s planning committee on Tuesday evening, chair of the ELR, Mike Kelly outlined the many benefits of the proposals.

He said: “This is an important and ground-breaking application.

“For the last 50 years running as a charity the ELR has been ably supported by thousands of volunteers who freely give their skills and time to protect and preserve this area’s rich industrial transport heritage.

“The ELR currently attracts more than 200,000 visitors per year.

“The contribution to the local economy grew significantly between 2008 and 2019 where visitors jobs and value added has doubled.

“A new 10-year strategy has been developed which predicts visitor numbers growing by 30 per cent and an increase in jobs from 150 to