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From Department for Transport
via https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/future-of-community-rail-strategy

I see this thread has drawn little nothing in the way of responses.   Re
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/future-of-community-rail-strategy

I'm a person involved with a Community Rail Partnership these days. I've helped set one up under the current regime, going through many issues in the process that weren't as clear and straightforward as we might have wished, and helped move us forward to be effective in meeting our objectives.   And as a partnership those objectives are the objectives of local government stakeholders, of the rail industry, and of the communities served.

We have undoubtedly gained from "Community Rail" - without it, I doubt whether some of the things we have done would have been possible. But of course that beggars the question "if there was no community rail, would there have been something else instead?" and leads on to "if there was something else, or something along the same lines, could it have been better tuned to meet our or general needs?"

The current community rail strategy has been in place for ten years and has - from all indications - been very positive for the lines and services that it's wayfound for throughout that period.  Whether the same unadjusted strategy should continue for the next ten years is the question we're now being asked.   We have observed an element of "better the devil you know" in established community rail admin - sometimes making in hard for newcomers and new ideas to make an entry; a natural desire not to take risks - not to damage what's there already in pursuit of further gains.

So - what for the next 10 years?  "Steady as she goes", or something else?   Can Community Rail deliver [even] more, or should it be scrapped or replaced by something else which can do even better?   How should it be kept open, and welcoming of "boarders" to give opportunities to develop for all?

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The themes and questions of the consultation are:

Four THEMES

A. Connecting people to places and opportunities
B. SUpporting local and regional economies
C. Supporting communities diversity and inclusion
D. Suggesting innovative ways to improve the way the railway works

Theme A - Connecting people to places and opportunities

Question 1a: What role can community rail play in improving end-to-end journeys?

Question 1b: How can community rail help to:
• Make journeys more sustainable?
• Encourage more healthy travel?
• Reduce the environmental impact of travel?

Question 2: How can community rail help:
• Communities have a voice in influencing the provision of rail?
• Complementary transport services and development of the rail network?

Question 3: Where should the Government encourage community rail to develop on parts of the network currently without active CRPs or other community participation?

Theme B - Supporting communities, diversity and inclusion

Question 4a: What is the role of community rail in supporting:
• Community cohesion?
• Promoting diversity?
• Enabling social inclusion?

Question 4b: How is this best achieved?

Question 5: How can community rail help to make sure that the railway is accessible to as many people as possible?

Theme C - Supporting local and regional economy

Question 6: How can community rail support local economies and railways grow through:
• Increasing employment?
• Education and training opportunities?
• Supporting small businesses?
• Social enterprise development?

Question 7: What role can community rail play in making best use of:
• Station buildings?
• Railway land?

Theme D - Suggesting innovative ways to improve the way the railway works

Question 8: How can community rail be best supported to act:
• Innovatively?
• Effectively?

Question 9: What opportunities are there to secure a:
• Diverse income base for community rail?
• Sustainable income base for community rail?

Question 10: How can community rail designation be developed to more fully realise its potential?

Question 11: How can community rail:
• Support the development of rail line and stations improvement?
• Contribute to the development of rail line and station improvement?
• Make greater use of heritage railways?

Outside the Themes:

Question 12: Do you have any other comments on how Government can best support the future of community rail?

What advice is ACORP supplying?

ACoRP is facilitating the briefings by the Department for Transport on the consultation, and advising / encouraging people to make responses in order to set things onto a path / with a direction for the next ten years.

I was wondering which opinion they might be expressing - 'why break something that is obviously working, so only minor tweaks needed', or something ,ore major......

There is certainly a common desire not to break something that works.   There is also a desire to see if the bits that "obviously work" can be expanded to work elsewhere and/or even better.  And just because something has worked well for 20 years doesn't mean it goes on optimally working that was into the future; is the same approach right for a station that has gone from 53k annual journeys 10 years ago to over a quarter of a million in the most recent published figures?

There is also a general tendency I have noted - applicable in generality and not just to community rail or even just to the DfT - to increase rules / regulations / paperwork in such a way that more admin staff are needed and far less actually gets done - the "tool" [of community rail in this case] could be blunted by what's set up for the future, just as 'they' try to sharpen it to make it more effective.

Sharing three responses to this consultation - formal ones from TransWilts and Melksham Rail User Group, and my own short(er!) comments.

http://atrebatia.info/cr2018_transwilts.pdf
http://atrebatia.info/cr2018_mrug.pdf
http://atrebatia.info/cr2018_gje.pdf

Consultation closes tomorrow ... last chance for inputs over the next 24 hours!