Government launches new community strategy
THE Government is to develop a new accreditation scheme for Community Rail Partnerships (CRPs), encourage community groups to develop local facilities by making use of unused or underused railway property, and create a transport network that boosts social connections and provides opportunities for new education, employment and skills.
The measures were announced in its Community Rail Strategy for England and Wales, launched on November 15.
The strategy backs the Association of Community Rail Partnerships’ (ACoRP’s) efforts to encourage greater community involvement in the railway, and calls on the rail industry to engage local areas where there are no such bodies to raise awareness of how local issues can be addressed.
It calls on the industry to apply its regulations and processes “proportionately” to community projects, and for Network Rail (NR) to “more effectively collaborate” with CRPs.
Government says accreditation will act as a “mark of quality”, be developed as a brand to assist community rail groups when engaging with new stakeholders, and assist in creating opportunities to further develop community rail’s impact and influence unregulated fares.
The strategy also wants the Department for Transport (DfT) to ensure that community rail voices are heard at a strategic level; for greater co-operation with train operating companies while respecting community rail organisations’ independence; for mechanisms to be implemented by train operators and Network Rail to allow community rail organisations to communicate with and provide feedback for them; and for community rail organisations to look for opportunities to develop a more diverse funding base.
In a bid to encourage more rail use, the DfT, train operators, NR and ACoRP will be encouraged to support community rail organisations to develop their impact on sustainable travel, and for ACoRP and the rail industry to explore how community rail’s involvement in station travel planning can be further developed.
To create benefits beyond railway stations, the DfT, ACoRP and the rail industry will provide training and support to give CRPs and station adoption groups greater confidence in approaching and engaging groups who are less vocal; to include diversity, inclusion and equality objectives in train operators’ annual community rail conference; and for ACoRP to consider and set out a strategy for supporting greater engagement of young people within community rail.
Better links with heritage railways are proposed, as is greater engagement with CRPs and station groups when developments are proposed or planned that could affect routes or stations.
NR will also be required to consult with community rail organisations over the disposal of land or buildings, or any proposed changes on their lines or at their adopted stations. Train operators, meanwhile, must help to identify