The research found that around 3,200 volunteers contribute 250,000 hours per year (primarily in station adoption activities), providing a financial value of £3.4 million per annum. And it showed that Community Rail Partnerships more than pay for themselves, by adding economic, social and environmental value to their communities.
For example, several CRPs - notably East Lancashire - have an ongoing programme of work with schools that has resulted in growing awareness among children of the value (and excitement) of using their local rail service. Passenger use on community rail lines has grown by an additional 2.8% each year on top of what a ‘conventional’ local line would be expected to achieve.
An honest assessment would say that the Strategy has succeeded in its aims, with the exception of ‘managing costs down’. There is more work to be done.
Stations
Stations act as the link between the railway and the community. The DfT/Rail North specification for the Northern Rail franchise speaks positively about bringing old station buildings back into use, which represents an important change in government thinking.
During the 1970s, hundreds of stations were de-staffed, and many fine buildings were demolished, to be replaced by a humble shelter. Thus the link to the community was effectively severed. But some survived and have experienced a renaissance, often thanks to help from the Railway Heritage Trust.
Gobowen, in Shropshire, is a good example. This once-unstaffed station is now run by a local social enterprise, with friendly and well-trained staff who can sell you a ticket to anywhere from Penzance to Plockton. There is also a nice warm area to sit and wait, with the added attraction of a cafe run by the local school. Gobowen isn’t unique, but it has seldom been easy.
At Moorthorpe, in West Yorkshire, the local town council refused to accept the demolition of the fine (but derelict) station building. It has since been superbly renovated with office space, a cafe and room for passengers to wait for their train in comfort. But this took over a decade to come to fruition, and the building was very nearly reduced to rubble. It shouldn’t have to be so difficult.
Close to Moorthorpe, Wakefield Kirkgate - once dubbed ‘Britain’s worst station’ - is being brought back to life in a £4.5 million project led by Groundwork Trust, in partnership with the railway industry, the local authority and Metro. The new station is due to open by summer 2015, and will be a shining example of what can be achieved with determination and no small measure of luck. The restored station building will house office space for small businesses, a conference venue, a cafe and much-improved passenger facilities.
Several other stations have come back to life thanks to local entrepreneurs deciding to take a risk and provide a good facility for passengers. Chester-le-Street (trading as ‘Chester-le-Track’), its subsidiary at Eaglescliffe and the Lancashire County Council-staffed Carnforth and Clitheroe are all good examples. Settle and Appleby are stations run by and for the local community, through the Settle-Carlisle Development Company working in partnership with Northern Rail. And Rye station, in Sussex, is now home to an architect’s practice that helped make improvements to the fabric of the TOC-staffed station.
Station friends (or ‘adopters’) have brought enormous TLC to hundreds of stations across the network, through artwork, gardens and even poetry. Previously unloved stations in often quite deprived communities such as Westhoughton, Hindley, Mill Hill and Huncoat have been totally transformed by volunteer effort.
And it isn’t just unstaffed stations. Smaller staffed stations such as Glossop, Poulton-le-Fylde, Kidsgrove, Littleborough and Todmorden have benefited from volunteers working with enthusiastic and committed station staff. And there are many more.
New life for old lines
So far, community rail has focused mainly on existing routes, helping to bring life back to forlorn stations and drive up usage. However, the community rail approach can also work for currently abandoned routes such as the Ashington, Blyth and Tyne, March-Wisbech and Skipton-Colne.
The re-opening of the Blackburn-Clitheroe route in 1994 was very much down to local community efforts, assisted by Lancashire County Council and ultimately taken forward with British Rail. And the re-opening of the Borders Railway would not be happening had the Campaign for Borders Rail group not persevered for many years before getting its vision adopted by the Scottish Government.
One of the most exciting projects is the Tavistock re-opening, which is developer-led in partnership with Devon County Council, one of our most proactive local authorities. Devon has already helped to create a market for local rail by focusing housing development around stations that previously served a tiny population.
A good example of this is Newcourt station on the Exeter to Exmouth Line, serving a new community of (eventually) 2,000-plus homes. The station opened on June 4 and is the first in Devon for 20 years - and the sign of things to come for Devon County Council’s Devon Metro plan.
More routes have potential to be brought back into the national network, although no one doubts the huge obstacles that lie in the way. But without grassroots community support that recognises the wider economic and social value of the railway, any possibility of a line re-opening is remote. You also need local authority support and a positive national framework. As Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) take on more transport responsibilities linked to their wider economic development remit, the scope for CRPs to benefit is considerable.
Scorched-earth station
What happens if there are no surviving buildings available to use? Back in the 1960s and 1970s, BR had a ‘scorched-earth’ policy towards its station buildings that resulted in hundreds being torn down as part of its understandable need to reduce costs. As a result, many locations that today might benefit from a staffed booking office or some human presence have no suitable building to house it, and the knee-jerk reaction is that it would be too expensive to provide something.
But it doesn’t have to be so. A highly innovative project in Mid-Wales offers a new approach to the development of small stations, using modular buildings constructed on highly sustainable principles and which offer space for community groups and small businesses. D & S Bamford in Presteigne is developing the ‘caboose’ design (based on the classic BR ‘fitted van’), which could be transported by lorry and put in place at small stations on routes such as the Heart of Wales. So far, the Welsh Government has shown particular interest, together with the DfT and some train operators.
A supportive framework
Having the positive support of the Government, the Office of Rail and Road and Network Rail has been critical. NR recently disbanded its small (but effective) community rail team, and there are concerns that some momentum may be lost as responsibilities devolve to a more local level without an overall strategic focus.
At the DfT, the newly formed Passenger Services (under the leadership of Peter Wilkinson) has been highly supportive of community rail, and pushed the boundaries of not just government thinking, but also Community Rail Partnerships and ACoRP.
The Northern Rail franchise Invitation To Tender is very clear that it expects train operators to come up with innovative approaches to the development of the many community rail lines in the franchise, and in particular make more creative use of stations.
A big question mark hangs over the role of local authorities, who were critical to the success of community rail in the early days and who continue in many cases (for example, Lancashire, Cumbria, Devon and Cornwall) to lead on community rail development.
Cuts in local government funding mean that many ‘non-essential’ budget headings have little chance of survival. In the next few years there are likely to be reductions in local government core funding, although these can be compensated by embedding funding for CRPs in franchise agreements and by linking up with the ‘LEP’ agenda, as well as by looking at ways of generating revenue from a range of activities.
The Settle-Carlisle Railway Development Company is one of the few examples of a CRP that has succeeded in doing this - it runs booking offices, on-train and at-station catering services and marketing activities contracted from the train operator.
There is scope to do more on transport integration, including feeder ‘community transport’ operations, bike hire, and working with commercial bus operators and local authorities to get better synergies between bus and rail.
