Stocksbridge funicular railway link plans dropped

The lift proposal would have been funded as part of the town's £24m regeneration deal (Artist's impression)

Proposals for a funicular railway to link a South Yorkshire town's main street and nearby shopping centre have been dropped.

The 27-metre track would have connected Stocksbridge's Manchester Road with the Fox Valley centre.

However, problems securing sections of land meant the plan, part of the £24m Stocksbridge Town Deal, will not go ahead.

A Towns Fund Board spokesperson said other options were being examined.

The body, which oversees projects for potential funding, halted plans for the lift between a site at Liberty Steel and the town's High Street due to the time it would have taken to resolve problems with land issues.

The spokesperson added: "A number of options to create an accessible link were considered and an incline lift was the most practical solution which would definitely have created a point of difference for the town.

"Unfortunately, this element of the wider plans for the town centre has now been withdrawn from the Town's Fund bid because of the complexities around securing the land needed to deliver the project within the timescales," they told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

The spokesperson added that an alternative parking scheme may still be looked at in the future.