Investment Fund - Feasibility and Development Funding Application Form

SCHEME : Charfield Rail Station- to Preliminary Business Case- costs an estimate awaiting NR input

1. Lead Organisation

South Gloucestershire Council

2. Partner organisations

Network Rail

3. Scheme contact details

Name: Janet Kings

Email: [email protected]

Telephone: 01454 864111

4. Scheme Type – mark with an X

Transport

Non-Transport Housing Enabling

Business Support

Skills

Other (please specify)

5. Is this investment linked to any others within the early investment or wider Investment Fund programme? If so please set out the relationship and linkages.

Details:

The delivery of a new rail station for Charfield forms part of a package of major transport schemes to help facilitate the development of new homes and employment opportunities outlined in the West of England Joint Spatial Plan (JSP). In tandem with the JSP, a Joint Transport Study (JTS) was prepared, which identifies strategic transport proposals for delivery up to 2036 to address current challenges on the network and provide additional capacity to support JSP growth.

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For the South Gloucestershire Council area, the following major transport schemes have been identified to help deliver growth, to mitigate the impact of JSP development on our transport network, and to offer better travel choices for residents:

 Charfield rail station (new station)*  rail station improvements  A432 service ( to Yate/Chipping Sodbury)  A432 Park & Ride (West of Yate)  A38 metrobus (Bristol to Thornbury/Buckover)  A38 Park & Ride (South of Thornbury)  Winterbourne /Frampton Cotterell bypass  Coalpit Heath / Winterbourne bypass  Ring of Park & Rides around Bristol (some in SGC area)

*The rail station and car park will be delivered in parallel, but through separate mechanisms, as is common with most new station proposals. This application for development funding applies to the station only.

In addition to the above major transport schemes, local mitigation measures will also be identified and brought forward through the Local Plan and through negotiations with developers.

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6. Total Funding required for this phase of works

A. Spending Profile (£)

18/19 19/20 20/21 Total

Investment Fund £20,000 £280,000 £300,000

Match Funding - - - - please state source(s)

B. Cost Breakdown (£)

Investment Fund (£) Match Funding (£)

South Gloucestershire Council 47,000 (including Transport Policy, legal, finance and audit)

Network Rail 228,000

Jacobs (demand forecasting) 25,000

Total 300,000

7. Please describe the scheme to be developed (including its objectives and expected impacts) and the proposed activity to be undertaken through this investment.

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A. Details of the scheme to be delivered: [Note: please include details of the intervention expected to ultimately be delivered including the strategic fit, how the scheme is planned to be delivered and the cost. Programme information should be included in section 10b] This project focuses on the delivery of a new rail station serving Charfield and the surrounding towns and villages. The station would be a small, modern, unstaffed station comprising two platforms, an accessible pedestrian footbridge and a small waiting area comprising shelters and seating on each platform. As referenced above in section 5, proposals to deliver an associated station car park will be brought forward in parallel, but separate, to the station proposals. The station would serve existing and future residents of Charfield and surrounding towns and villages. Rail offers an attractive alternative to private car use to key destinations such as Bristol North Fringe, , Bath, Yate and Gloucester/Cheltenham. In most cases, journey times would be significantly shorter and overall journey experience improved, when compared to undertaking the same journey by car in the peak periods. The addition of rail services at Charfield would have a significant positive effect on capacity, operation and resilience of both the strategic and local highway networks, as trips are transferred from road to rail. This is a currently a relevant issue, but becomes more pertinent when considering the potential impact of the JSP development. The JSP/JTS identifies Charfield rail station as key transport mitigation required to help facilitate and deliver 1,200 new homes and 5ha of employment land in Charfield through the JSP. Rail services for Charfield would also realise many positive social benefits - enabling residents without access to a private car to undertake trips for a range of purposes; including accessing the wider choice of employment, higher education, retail and leisure opportunities available across the West of England region. The above benefits of a new rail station will have positive economic implications for the region, as access to employment is made easier, more activity is undertaken and journey times are reduced. The delivery of a new station for Charfield is likely to make the village more attractive to prospective residents and for employers potentially relocating to the area. MetroWest is being developed to improve local rail transport within the West of England. Phase 2 of the scheme will include new services to Yate which are proposed to be extended to Gloucester. This will provide the opportunity to allow trains to be stopped at Charfield. The cost of the station is forecasted as £13.7m including industry risk fund and contingency. Note this doesn’t include SGC development costs or business case development costs. The works would be delivered through Network Rail with support for the Business case from WoE framework consultants. B. Details of the activities to be undertaken through this feasibility or development phase: Survey Works and Feasibility Report Network Rail will be commissioned to undertake the feasibility work, the first of three stages to be delivered by them. This will align to the Governance for Rail Investment Projects (GRIP) Stage 2: Feasibility. The aim of GRIP 2 is to define the scope of the investment, identify constraints and confirm that the outputs can be economically delivered and are aligned with network strategy.

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Survey work will be carried out to identify the site constraints such as utilities, hazards and environmental impacts. This will help to define the preferred option and inform future design work and will be summarised in a feasibility report. Rail Passenger Demand Forecasting Forecast passenger demand using the Passenger Demand Forecast Handbook based on the growth proposed and the proposed rail services at the new station.

[Note: If the planned output is other than an Outline or Full Business Case or Second Stage Skills Capital Application please describe the scope and content of the report which will mark the completion of this phase]

8. Please set out how the activities to be undertaken through this Feasibility and Development Funding Application will be managed and resourced. If use of consultants or other third parties is proposed please describe how these have been, or will be procured.

Details: Whole Scheme (this application: Stage 1 only)

Spring 2019 to Summer/Autumn Stage 1 Survey Works and Feasibility Report 2019

Single option development and Summer 2019 to Spring 2020 Stage 2 scheme case. Outline Business Case.

Planning powers and procurement. Spring 2020 to Summer 2020 Stage 3 Full business Case.

Stage 4 Construction and commissioning Summer 2020 to Autumn 2021

Stage 1 : The subject of this application The work required to take forward this project to construction design level is costed at £1.1m. At this stage the ask from WECA is an allocation of the first £300k of this to enable this work to progress. This is on the basis that the allocation of the remainder of the £1.1m be considered at the WECA meeting in May as, in order to facilitate a more expedient timetable, realise cost savings and reduce risk, SGC may have to enter into the larger commission at its own risk.

The outputs from this stage of the work will be on site surveys and a comprehensive Feasibility Report brought together in a Business Case together with a refresh of the RailSys modelling timetable work completed for the MetroWest2 (MW2). It is considered that this will support the

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selection of a single option for the station location. Network Rail will be engaged to provide these outputs in line with their role as system operators and owners to allow integration with the strategy for the route. Support will also be engaged from the West of England framework consultants to develop the Business case for the station in line with best practice advice. The work will be managed by SGC Project Management Team with regular reporting to WECA and quarterly claims as required.

9. What output will be produced using the funds awarded as part of this Feasibility and Development Fund Application, and when will this be completed?

Mark with an X Date (mmm/yy)

Feasibility Report X August 2019

Option Development Report complete

Option Appraisal Report

Outline Business Case

Full Business Case/

Second Stage Skills Capital

Application

Other (please state)

10. When do you plan to start and complete your project and what are the main project milestones? Please include the milestones related to the feasibility or development work to

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be undertaken through this application and the milestones for the subsequent implementation phase through to completion.

A. Milestones for the activities through this Feasibility and Development Funding

Milestone Date (mmm/yy)

Project commencement on receipt of award February 2019 Commissioning of Framework consultants support Feb/March 2019 Commissioning of Network Rail Feb/March 2019 On site surveys complete May 2019 Feasibility report Complete August 2019

B. Planned milestones for scheme development or delivery beyond this initial phase.

Milestone Date (mmm/yy)

Preliminary Business Case August 2019 Outline Business Case Spring 2020 Full Business Case Summer 2020 Construction and commissioning Autumn 2021

Date approved by WECA Committee: 15 February 2019

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