Join 'Going Green' and East Suffolk Line Community Rail Partnership

The next meeting of the Going Green Transport Project (GGTP) and the North Line Group (NLG) of the East Suffolk Lines Community Rail Partnership (ESLCRP) is scheduled for April 7th 2015 and their members are hoping more local bodies will join them.

The Project and the Group are two separate and active bodies focusing on transport development in the Waveney market towns and the communities connected to them which work cooperatively by scheduling meetings together and share some overlapping membership.

The Project is constituted to enable cooperation between communities, operators and user groups and supports transport development for all forms of sustainable transport by being an information exchange and by administrating funds. For example; members of the Project produced a leaflet 'Discover the Blyth Valley' promoting rail and bus ridership between Halesworth and Southwold (now in its second edition) and through the Project they raised the funding and coordinated distribution. Members of the Project frequently advocate for local transport at high-level meetings with operators and local government such as the Suffolk Sustainable Transport Forum and report back to the Project. By holding open meetings six times per year it enables networking and discussion on transport issues focused on a specific area and links them with bodies with a wider remit. The Project also holds funding ring-fenced for the North Line Group of the East Suffolk Lines Community Rail Partnership.

Membership of the GGTP costs £3 per year to cover its incidental expenses and is due each February.

The next meeting of the Project is very important as all members need to renew their membership before the AGM later this year. New members are always welcome and prospects are invited to attend.

The ESLCRP is an unincorporated association of local government, public transport operators and community groups. The Partnership aims to bring together representatives of the local transport authority, local planning authorities, the train operating company, infrastructure operator and a wide range of local community groups with the objective of securing the future of the East Suffolk Line (Lowestoft to Ipswich) and Felixstowe Line (Ipswich to Felixstowe) railways through increased patronage and revenue. Representation of communities is through the three separate line groups; North (Lowestoft, Oulton Broad, Beccles, Brampton, Halesworth), South (Darsham, Saxmundham, Wickham Market, Melton, Woodbridge) and East (Felixstowe, Trimley, Derby Road, Westerfield).

The line groups are intended to bring together user groups, station adopters, station friends groups, local public and private sector organisations and the voluntary and community sector. Each of the locations where a railway station is situated within the CRP has their own views about how they would like their railway to develop in the future. These groups enable local people to be involved in putting the ESLCRP Action Plan into effect in their locality and each line group elects a representative who sits on the main ESLCRP board.

Membership of the line groups is open to any organisation willing to uphold the aims of the ESLCRP. The North Line Group membership presently includes Halesworth Town Council, Beccles and District Regeneration, Bungay Town Council transport representative, East Suffolk Travellers Association and individual volunteers in Abellio Greater Anglia's 'station adopter' scheme. More members are always welcome and may apply to join any line group at any time. www.eastsuffolkline.com

Some items for the agenda of the next meeting are likely of interest to both GGTP and NLG members. Please contact the chair/s below by Friday 3rd April with other items for the agenda.

• Update on Rail in the City Day. ESLCRP members will be on Liverpool Street Station from 7am to 7pm on May 20th to promote visiting Suffolk and its attractions by rail. (Why not bring your leaflets to the meeting)

• Update on the Bus Hub at Halesworth Angel Link.

• School transport: Sir John Leman (Beccles) has withdrawn free transport impacting on Halesworth and Lowestoft parents faced with a cost of £540 p.a. per child regardless of age.

• Designated Community Rail status: what does that really mean? (A lot actually)

• Update on Beccles station developments.

• Update on the consultation on the long rail franchise award in 2016.

• Distribution of the Discover Blyth Valley leaflet; who, where, when.

• Halesworth station ticket machine launch

• Introducing the new CRP support officer.

• Appointment of chair for GGTP.

• Update on Lowestoft Vision and Waveney District Council redevelopment scoping study of Lowestoft station. 

• Promotion of the Sunday rail service improvement on May 17th

• Update on Darsham Car Park.

• NLG support for the Anglia in Bloom entries of Halesworth and Beccles

• And as always; round table reports on any local issues from each town/parish and the opportunity for advice and support from the members in attendance.

There are many projects and ambitions around with a transport dimension that the NLG / GGTP would be glad to have information about or support. It hopes by this that people will bring them to their attention.

Date:   Tuesday April 7th 2015

Location: Council Chamber*, Halesworth Town Council, London Road, IP19 8LW

Time:  GGTP: 10:30 to 11:30

Time:  NLG: 11:30 to 12:30

Contact:

Nat Bocking 

chair NLG, chair GGTP

nat (at) pixlink (dot) co (dot) uk 


*only accessible by stairs

New buses boost but old rules dog community transport

Halesworth - The Secretary of State for Transport Patrick McLoughlin MP stopped by this small Suffolk market town today on his way to open a new road in Lowestoft to announce that Halesworth Area Community Transport (HACT) had been successful in its application to the £25 million Community Transport Vehicle Fund for a new 16 seat minibus.

HACT had applied in January 2015 for funding for a 16 seat coach-built
disabled accessible vehicle to replace their only one available for hire to schools and
community groups which can be driven on a Category B (normal car) license. The new vehicle will also be used to train drivers to achieve their MiDAS certification. HACT's other vehicles are over the weight limit for a 

HACT very successfully operates a scheduled Section 22 service (the 511  Halesworth Hoppa) which is a lifeline to people in Halesworth and Holton. It  also provides Section 19 services to many local groups. 

For over four years, HACT has lobbied the Secretary of State and other officials about the challenge to community  transport operators of a dwindling supply of volunteers who can drive 16  passenger minibuses over the MAM limit on a car license ( D1 entitlement). Otherwise the operators need to invest at least £2000 (which is unsecurable from a volunteer) in  training for each volunteer to pass a PSV. 

The DfT has responded to suggestions to make the PSV test free of charge to CTOs that it gives them an unfair advantage over commercial operators.

In April 2013 Sue Jay, the chair of Suffolk Community Transport, took the  opportunity of a visit to Suffolk by the Department for Transport's chief  civil servant Graham Pendlebury to advise him that this licensing burden is  hampering the recruitment of volunteer drivers. The Community Transport Association has also advised its members that faced with this challenge, they should switch to using smaller and lighter minibuses for  their fleets - advice HACT has evidently heeded.

The CTA told the DfT that "D1 (issue) must be the top of  the heap for policy change" when the DfT was consulting on how the European  Union helps or hampers transport in the UK. The DfT then put the question to the CTA, given that D1 is EU  legislation, "what room does the DfT have to create a solution?" 

HACT  considers the simplest solution is to make an exception to raise the MAM  weight limit for community buses with volunteer drivers operating a section  22 route because the drivers (with MiDAS certification) would be familiar  with their vehicles and the regular scheduled routes and this was a very  different safety scenario to a school or community group using a minibus on  a one-off trip. HACT considers the UK members of the European Parliament  must present that proposal to the EU. 

Though they need lightweight vehicles for Section 19 services; a fleet of them would greatly limit  HACT's service flexibility and would also negatively impact its revenue opportunities. With an average of 60 passengers per day in Halesworth, community  transport operators like HACT could not meet passenger demand with 8  passenger minibuses without a huge decrease in hard-won efficiency. HACT  must use 16 passenger vehicles to meet present demand on a 50 mile daily  route (4 to 5 cycles) within its resources of vehicles and volunteer  staffing. Heavier vehicles are essential as a 16 passenger  coach-built vehicle is a much more accessible, efficient, versatile and comfortable vehicle than a smaller (and so lighter) van conversion. HACT's passenger cost per mile is still a  place where no commercial operator dares to tread without some form of  subsidy.