‘Thanks for backing me on budget boost’
Alison Hernandez has won support for some extra investment in policing – now she faces the voters in May
FRIDAY was one of the most significant days of my five years of service as Police and Crime Commissioner, as my final budget before the May elections received unanimous approval at a meeting of the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Panel.
Commissioners are supposed to serve a four-year term but the Covid19 pandemic meant the 2020 polls were postponed for 12 months. On the morning of the panel meeting the Government confirmed that it is not planning to postpone any further, so it is likely that with a few precautions voters will cast their votes in May.
A few hours after that announcement my budget went before elected councillors and independent panel members from around Devon and Cornwall for the panel that meets quarterly to scrutinise my decisions. The February meeting where the multi-million-pound budget is discussed is probably the most significant of the year, and this one arguably the most significant of my whole term.
The plan for the year to April 2022 will mean an increase in the police precept we all pay at a time when I know people are concerned about the economy and their livelihoods. This amounts to a rise of £14.92 a year, or £1.24 a month, for a Band D household. Deciding to raise taxes is not something that any politician likes doing, especially at such a difficult time, but I feel that the investment that will be possible because of it means this is the best course of action for our communities, as our safety and security must come first.
For two years polling by my office has shown that crime prevention remains the area where our communities want more investment. And this year a total of 88% of residents who took part in my survey into policing told me investment in visible policing was also a top priority. This makes sense to me as if we can stop crime happening in the first place we will have fewer victims and police will have more resources to investigate the crimes that do happen.
I think visible policing and crime prevention go hand in hand so this budget will create an additional 232 frontline jobs before April next year, as well as delivering more sworn officers to make the force stronger than it has been in a decade. There will be more staff in contact centres to answer your calls and emails and more investigators to make sure crime does not pay.
You might argue that Devon and Cornwall Police does not need more resources, after all, on Thursday last week the Office of National Statistics recorded crime statistics showed that we were the second safest police force area in terms of crimes per 1,000 people. I still think that there’s room for improvement. Too many of you tell me that anti-social behaviour and drug dealing in your community worries you, violent crime still blights too many lives, and too many people are killed or seriously injured on our roads. There are also many ‘noncrime’ incidents here that police have to be resourced for, such as searches for vulnerable missing people, and the calls for help to our 999 and 101 services continue to rise.
Devon and Cornwall Police has a proud history of community policing that we should be proud of when world leaders come here for the G7 summit in June. And for those concerned about the impact of this event on policing in their communities should rest assured, the bill is being picked up by central Government and mutual aid will mean significant additional resources from other UK forces will be available.
The panel members around the table seldom agree on everything, but on Friday we were unanimous in our agreement that our officers and staff, who have served us so valiantly in a year that has challenged like few in living memory, deserve investment in their ranks and our backing.
They did challenge me with a number of additional recommendations, such as an increase to the commissioning budget which pays for so much good work in our communities, which I will now go back and consider in detail. But to all who help fund our world class police force I’d like to thank you for creating a service that this time next year will be bigger, better and more visible because of you.
Alison Hernandez is Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon and Corwnall
JUST over a year ago, the Government announced plans to reverse some of the devastating cuts to the nation’s railways.
A £500 million fund was launched to help fund feasibility studies of routes that could be restored. While the past year has been dominated by the coronavirus crisis, progress has been made in terms of allocated that funding and towards trains once again running on long-forgotten lines, or stopping at long-forgotten stations.
A regular Okehampton to Exeter service is set to resume running later this year, while proposals to reopen Cullompton railway station have progressed to the next stage, as have proposals for enhanced existing passenger services between Truro and Falmouth.
Dr Richard Beeching, in two reports, The Reshaping of British Railways (1963) and The Development of the Major Railway Trunk Routes (1965), identified 2,363 stations and 5,000 miles of railway line for closure. In all, 55% of stations and 30% of route miles across Great Britain were earmarked to go.
His analysis showed that the leastused 1,762 stations had annual passenger receipts of less than £2,500 each (£56,500 in 2020) and that the least-used 50% of stations contributed only 2%of passenger revenue and that one third of route miles carried just 1% of passengers.
He recommended that mostly rural and industrial lines should be closed entirely, and that some of the remaining lines should be kept open only for freight. A total of 2,363 stations closed, although 435 were already under threat of closure.
A number of bids have been submitted to reverse some of those cuts in the South West. In the first two rounds of submissions, 13 proposals that cover Devon and Cornwall’s railways had been put forward across the region. Only the schemes to support frequency enhancements to Falmouth and to re-open the Wellington and Cullompton Railway have so far been successful.
In Cornwall, the proposals look to improve infrastructure on the Newquay branch and introduce through services between Newquay, St Austell, Truro and Falmouth under the title of Mid-Cornwall Metro.
In Cullompton, funding of £50,000
has been secured from the Department of Transport’s (DfT), Restoring Your Railway Ideas Fund, which has supported the development of a strategic outline business case.
Mid Devon councillors have backed proceeding to the next stage of the £16 million scheme and will consider the next stages, including whether the project will proceed; to continue positive contact with senior officials within the rail industry and the DfT to continue to raise the profile of the project and the development of a bid for the New Stations Fund in the event of a fourth round being announced in 2021.
Among Devon and Cornwall’s most significant ‘lost lines’ is the Exeter to Plymouth railway of the London and South Western Railway. Rather than follow the coastline, as the Great Western Railway route did, it followed the northern and western margins of Dartmoor, passing through the towns of Crediton, Okehampton and Tavistock, and avoiding what has become the vulnerable GWR section at Dawlish.
The route that connected the two cities was completed by 1891, but the Beeching cuts saw the line closed and just a local service remain at either end. Trains between Exeter and Plymouth via Okehampton were withdrawn from May 6, 1968, when the 20-mile section between Meldon Quarry and Bere Alston was lifted, and between Meldon and Okehampton the line was only retained for freight trains.
Okehampton to Exeter passenger services were withdrawn on June 5, 1972, but since 1997 a limited service has run between Okehampton and Exeter on Sundays during the summer. Regular passenger services will be returning after the reopening of the line between Okehampton and Exeter was included in the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review and the National Infrastructure Strategy. Although no date has yet been firmly announced, it is hoped to be before the end of 2021.
The section between Bere Alston and Tavistock has been put forward as part of the Beeching Restoration Fund, but the proposal has not yet been fully successful. However, this has raised hope that the section between Tavistock and Okehampton could reopen and complete the ‘Dawlish avoiding route’, with the line listed in 2019 by the Campaign for a Better Transport as a ‘priority one’ candidate for reopening.
Richard Burningham, manager at Devon and Cornwall Rail partnership, said in 2020 that, while he does not see the full line reopening any time soon, there is hope in the future. He said: “If Tavistock and Okehampton reopen and are a success, then there is just 15 miles of track gap, and if they are a success then reopening could be an option.”
Potential problems with reopening the line all the way from Exeter to Plymouth include reversals of the train required at both Exeter St David’s and Plymouth, adding a further ten to 14 minutes to through journeys. This would impact on capacity on those stations, and the cost to double the track throughout has been estimated at £875 million, with raising the track at areas of flood risk costing an additional £290 million.
The Ilfracombe branch of the London and South Western Railway ran between Barnstaple and Ilfracombe in North Devon. The branch opened as a single-track line in 1874, but was sufficiently popular that it needed to be upgraded to double-track in 1889. The 1-in-36 gradient between Ilfracombe and Mortehoe stations was one of the steepest sections of double-track railway line in the country, and was the fiercest climb from any terminus station in the UK.
Passenger numbers, though, dropped dramatically in the years following the Second World War and the line was mentioned as a candidate for closure in the Reshaping of British Railways report in 1963. However, it was not until October 5, 1970, that the line closed, although the last train ran on October 3. The track was lifted in June, 1975, and the distinctive curved steel girder bridge over the River Taw in Barnstaple was demolished in 1977.
The track bed between Mortehoe and Ilfracombe has been restored as the Devon Coast to Coast Cycle Route (rail trail) and forms part of the Tarka Trail. Combe Rail was set up in 2015 and hope to eventually reopen the line.
The Kingsbridge branch line, known as the Primrose Line, opened in 1893. It ran from Brent railway station, which served the village of South Brent, to Kingsbridge. Initially, there were plans to extend the line to Salcombe, but that section was never constructed.
After the Second World War, increasing use of road transport for goods and travel resulted in declining use of the branch line, with it making substantial losses. The line closed to goods from September 9, 1963, and was intended to have closed completely on that date. However, there was a delay in the substitute bus company obtaining the necessary licence, and the last train ran on September 14, 1963.
Brent station was closed the following year, with the last passenger train stopping on October 5, 1964. Proposals for the line and Brent station have been submitted, with Totnes MP Anthony Mangnall leading the campaign to explore the feasibility of its reopening.
The branch line from Newton Abbot to Kingswear initially served 11 stations and, unusually for a branch line, the majority remain intact. Kingskerswell station closed on October 5, 1964, and the line onwards to Brixham closed in 1963, but trains continue to travel between Paignton and Kingswear, and then on to Dartmouth via the passenger ferry, via the Dartmouth Steam Railway.
Dartmouth station remains unique as being a railway station that is open and sells tickets, but has never seen a train, as all passengers connect via the ferry to Kingswear.
Mr Mangnall and Kevin Foster MP, his Torbay counterpart, are seeking support for a proposal to investigate restoring public use of stations at Goodrington and Churston, between Paignton and Brixham, and a bid has been submitted. Both stations are now stops on a heritage line which took over the route after the line beyond Paignton was closed by British Rail in the 1970s.
The London and South Western Railway opened a main line from Yeovil to Exeter on July 18, 1860, but the nearest station to the East Devon coastline was at Feniton (then known as Sidmouth Junction). So, in 1874, a branch line to Sidmouth was opened, and a second branch line to Exmouth, via Budleigh Salterton, followed in 1897.
Passenger numbers remained viable well into the 1950s, but rail service rationalisation in the 1960s significantly reduced the frequency of train services, with the reduction in passenger numbers leading inevitably to closure of the branch line as part of the Beeching cuts.
Services to Sidmouth ceased on May 8, 1967, as did services on the Sidmouth Junction to Exmouth line.
East Devon MP Simon Jupp, ahead of the last General Election, said that “if there is any way we could reopen the train line to Sidmouth, we should”, although the site, on the outskirts of the town, has been completely redeveloped with a builders’ merchant built on the goods yard and an industrial estate on the passenger line and a housing development built on the track bed to the north of the station.
The Bodmin and Wadebridge Railway was a railway line opened in 1834 in Cornwall. It linked the quays at Wadebridge with the town of Bodmin and also with quarries at Wenford Bridge. It was the first steampowered railway line in the county and pre-dated the main line to London by 25 years, but traffic on the line remained very light throughout its existence and passenger services finished on January 30, 1967, when the line closed as part of the Beeching cuts.
However, proposals to reinstate the Bodmin to Wadebridge railway and to increase service provision from Bodmin General to Bodmin Parkway have been submitted to the Government.
Some lines that escaped the Beeching cuts are still going strong. The Tamar Valley Line remains open – except for the section between Gunnislake and Callington – because the roads in the area were so poor. The line remains open today from Plymouth to Gunnislake, and includes a stop at Bere Alston, from where it is hoped that the line to Tavistock can be reopened.
The Looe Valley Line, between Liskeard and Looe, and the St Ives Bay line, between St Erth and St Ives, were set to close as part on the Beeching cuts. But in 1966, just two weeks before their closure, Minister of Transport Barbara Castle granted them a reprieve.
Dr Beeching had proposed closing the Avocet Line between Exeter and Exmouth, but, following a local campaign to save it, the line also avoided the axe. Since 2001, usage of the Avocet Line (Exeter to Exmouth) has grown by 140%.
Other branch lines that have been increase in usage include the Tamar Valley Line (Plymouth to Gunnislake), up by 58%. In Cornwall, the Looe Valley Line (Liskeard to Looe) has seen growth of 99%, the Atlantic Coast Line (Par to Newquay) has grown by 113%, the St Ives Bay Line (St Erth to St Ives) has grown by 76%, while the Maritime Line (Falmouth to Truro) is up by a whopping 276%.
The Beeching Reversal Fund, totalling £500 million, will not be used to build new railway lines but will help fund feasibility studies of routes that could be restored. Speaking on a visit to the Fleetwood and Poulton-leFylde line in Lancashire last year, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps launched the new investment that will drive forward the reversal of the controversial Beeching cuts.
Mr Shapps said: “Many communities still live with the scars that came from the closure of their local railway more than five decades ago. Today sees work begin to undo the damage of the Beeching cuts by restoring local railways and stations to their former glory. Investing in transport links is essential to levelling up access to opportunities across the country, ensuring our regions are better connected, local economies flourish and more than half a century of isolation is undone.”
Rail Minister Chris Heaton-Harris said: “This is an exciting moment as we look to revitalise our railways, reconnect communities and reinvigorate our country. Local MPs, councillors and community leaders are the greatest champions of their local lines, and we want to work closely together to ensure the projects with the greatest potential have the support they need.”
The Department for Transport will fund 75% of costs, up to £50,000, of successful proposals to help fund transport and economic studies and create a business case. Future funding to develop projects would be subject to agreement of the business case. Bids are currently being accepted for the third round of the Ideas Fund, and submissions will be accepted until March 5, 2021.
‘Many communities still live with the scars that came from the closure of their local railway’ GRANT SHAPPS MP
WHILE January has Blue Monday, the supposed most miserable day of the year, February has Tired Monday, the most bleary-eyed.
Why? It is the day after the Super Bowl, which ends in the early hours of the morning, UK time.
That’s only for those who stayed up to watch it, of course, with many more sports fans tucked up safely in bed even as the game is kicking off.
With the action only beginning in earnest around 11.30pm and ending some four hours later, it is a test of endurance for even the most diehard sports fan.
Yet its popularity, if anything, is on the rise.
The culmination of the American Football season, the game is watched by more than 100 million people in its home country, together with an estimated 30 to 50 million more in some 130 countries across the world.
While the event pales in comparison with football’s World Cup final, it is a staple on the calendar for many – even with the sleep hangover it leaves for those on this side of the Atlantic.
There is the bonus of the half-time show, which is a big-budget showpiece occasion known to sometimes draw more of an audience than the actual game itself.
While you can’t always guarantee fireworks on the field, the half-time show never fails to deliver them.
Despite the events of the past year, the 2021 showpiece seemed remarkably ‘normal’, considering the huge numbers of deaths from Covid-19 in the United States.
Unfortunately, that is what could end up being a problem for the organisers.
After all the pre-game build-up, and predictions from commentators, the TV cameras panned around the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay, Florida, showing what appeared to be a huge number of fans.
Unlike the empty stadiums which hosted the start of rugby’s Six Nations Championship in both Wales and England at the weekend, as well as the latest Premier League matches, there was a sizeable crowd for the NFL showdown.
Organisers claimed there were 25,000 fans at the game, including 7,500 vaccinated healthcare workers, while the remaining 30,000 seats had been filled with cardboard cut-outs.
Yet the pictures seemed to show a distinct lack of social distancing in operation, while plenty of masks had been pulled down and used instead as neck-warmers.
Further images in the media yesterday, taken outside the stadium and in downtown Tampa Bay itself, showed plenty of pre-game and post-game parties – with even fewer safety measures in place. Accusations were already swirling about a potential ‘super spreader’ event.
If it had taken place in a country that has clearly got a grip on the pandemic, then I wouldn’t have an issue with it.
Yet the US can account for around a quarter of world’s coronavirus cases – some 27 million out of 106 million globally – as well as more than 463,000 deaths.
If there is a sudden spike in cases in Florida some ten to 14 days on from the Super Bowl, there will be questions asked of authorities who seemed willing to let so many people come together for the event.
The half-time show, performed by artist The Weeknd, riffed on the idea of masks and social distancing by having a huge number of dancers on the field, all stood several metres apart and wearing full face coverings, a bit like an army of dressed-up mummies.
So it is not as if people are not aware of the general principles.
Only time will tell whether it is organisers who have fallen asleep at the wheel when it comes to the risks.
Questions may be asked of authorities who seemed willing to let so many people come together