Association of Community Rail Partnerships Annual Report and Accounts 2009-10 1 Principal Funders and Sponsors Department for Transport Network Rail Welsh Assembly Government Corporate Sponsors Abellio (formerly NedRailways) Angel Trains Association of Train Operating Companies East Coast Ltd (formerly NXEC) First Transpennine Greater Manchester PTE Grand Central Railway Kirklees Metropolitan Council Lancashire County Council London Midland Trains Merseytravel Virgin Trains Keeping the Service Running: Northern Rail 158 at Kirkby Stephen on the Settle - Carlisle line (Andrew Griffiths, Imagerail) Cover: Exchnage of greetings on the Heart of Wales Line (Chris Prichard) Association of Community Rail Partnerships Ltd A company limited by guarantee Registered in England no. 4219081 Registered Office: The Rail and River Centre Canal Side, Civic Hall 15a New Street Slaithwaite, Huddersfield HD7 5AB ACoRP Annual Report 2009-10 Telephone: 01484 847790 Email: [email protected] Website: www.acorp.uk.com Annual Report 2009-10 ISBN 1 900497 26 3 2 From the Chair O’r Gadair One of the great things about community rail, apart Un o’r pethau gwych am reilffyrdd cymunedol, ar from our day to day support to our members, is the wahân i’r gefnogaeth ddydd i ddydd i’n haelodau, opportunity to be able to work with others who wish yw’r cyfle i allu weithio gydag eraill sydd yn to develop new rail partnerships. There were discus- dymuno datblygu partneriaethau rheilffordd sions with several such groups and it is most reward- newydd. Bu trafodigaethau gyda nifer o grupiau fel ing to be in at the start and lend a guiding hand. hyn a mae’n foddhaol iawn i fod yno yn y cychwyn Such activities take us around and about the length ac i gynnig arweiniad. Mae’r fath weithgaredd yn and breadth of the land from time to time, as does mynd â ni allan ar hyd a lled y wlad o bryd i’w our regular pattern of business. gilydd, fel mae ein patrwm busnes arferol. During the reporting year the ACoRP Board met on Yn ystod y flwyddyn a adroddir arni gwnaeth Bwrdd four occasions. The Finance and General Purposes ACoRP gwrdd ar bedwar achlysur. Gwnaeth y Committee also met on four occasions, whilst the Pwyllgor Cyllid a Phwrpasau Cyffredinol hefyd Annual General Meeting took place in November. gwrdd bedwar tro, gyda’r Cyfarfod Cyffredinol Geographically these meetings were spread from Blynyddol yn cymryd lle ym mis Tachwedd. Yn Cardiff to Huddersfield and from Birmingham to ddaearyddol gwasgerir y cyfarfodydd yma o Morecambe. Other key meetings attended during Gaerdydd i Huddersfield ac o Birmingham i More- the year included several sessions with members cambe. Bu cyfarfodydd allweddol eraill yn ystod y representatives on developing ACoRP’s future strat- flwyddyn gan gynnwys sesiynau gyda egy, looking to the next five years, and six meetings chynrychiolwyr aelodau i drafod strategaeth dyfodol of the national community rail steering group led by ACoRP, gan edrych ar y pum mlynedd nesaf, a chwe the Department for Transport. cyfarfod o’r grup llywio rheilffyrdd cymunedol I think we may look back on another successful year cenedlaethol a arweinir gan yr Adran dros in which ACoRP represented community rail and Drafnidiaeth. our members to national and regional government Credaf y gallwn edrych nôl ar flwyddyn arall both in England and in Wales, and ensuring that lwyddiannus gydag ACoRP yn cynrychioli community rail and its accruing benefits to users rheilffyrdd cymunedol a’n haelodau i lywodraeth leol and local economies were kept in the eye of industry, a chenedlaethol yn Lloegr a Chymru, ac yn sicrhau media and government. This is achieved in a variety bod rheilffyrdd cymunedol a’r benedithion cynyddol of ways, not least of which is the seminar and confer- i ddefnyddwyr ac economïau lleol yn flaenllaw yn ence programme. The crowning event of the year was llygaid y diwydiant, cyfryngau a llywodraeth. undoubtedly the annual rail awards in Carlisle with Cyflawnir hyn mewn amryw o ffyrdd, gan gynnwys the festival weekend with a wide range of displays y rhaglen o seminarau a chynadleddau. Y and attractive excursions offered on the local rail digwyddiad wnaeth goroni hyn heb os nac oni bai network. oedd y noson wobrwyo flynyddol yn Carlisle gyda’r One of my pleasant duties each year is to thank uyl benwythnos â ystod eang o arddangosfeydd a everyone who supports ACoRP in our work, be they theithiau atyniadol wedi ei gynnig ar y rhwydwaith the train operating companies, industry bodies, local rheilffordd leol. authorities, ATOC, Network Rail, Welsh Assembly Un o’r dyletswyddau braf bob blwyddyn yw i Government, Department for Transport, members of ddiolch i bawb sy’n cefnogi ACoRP yn ein gwaith, the staff team, and the board and committee mem- boed nhw’n Gwmnïau Gweithredu Rheilffyrdd, bers who freely give us their time – and above all, cyrff o’r diwydiant, awdurdodau lleol, ATOC, you, ACoRP’s members. A special word of thanks to Network Rail, Llywodraeth Cynulliad Cymru, our member Gerwyn Jones who carries out the Adran dros Drafnidiaeth, aelodau o dîm y staff, ac Welsh translation for us each year. aelodau’r pwyllgorau sydd yn rhoi ei hamser am Thank you each and every one for what you do for ddim – ac yn enwedig, chi, aelodau ACoRP. Gair community rail. arbennig o ddiolch i’n aelod Gerwyn Jones sy’n ymgymryd â’r gwaith cyfieithu Cymraeg i ni bob Peter Roberts, blwyddyn. Chairman, ACoRP Diolch i chi bob un am yr hyn yr ydych yn ei wneud dros reilffyrdd cymunedol. Peter Roberts, Cadeirydd ACoRP Annual Report The past year has once again been success- implant the CR message at staff level. We ful, although the shadow of future cuts also provide training for new CRP Officers still looms large. Although not technically as and when required and in 2009-10, within the scope of this report, it is worth provided two sessions, one in April 2009 noting the results of the elections in May and the other in December. 2010 and the implications this may have in the forthcoming year – for both ACoRP Arrange members’ seminars on and its member Community Rail Partner- topics which will increase their ships (CRPs). To an extent, many deci- competencies sions made will be out of our hands but we can assure everyone that we will be The annual ACoRP member seminars doing our best to ensure that Community were held in June 2009 and were, as Rail (CR) is not overlooked. always, very well attended. A seminar to tie in with the launch of our second key As always, my thanks go to our friends in study The Value of Community Rail Volun- the industry who continue to assist us teering was held in July 2009, while events with funding or other in-kind benefits. in 2010 included the Designated Lines We simply couldn’t do what we do with- seminar held in Ipswich in January and out your support and we hope you feel we the Northern area CRP Officers’ meeting provide you with good value! I would also in February. Our final conference for the like to thank the ACoRP staff whose period Community Rail & Active Travel commitment to the organisation is much Plans was held in March in the valued, especially by me. Finally, we must magnificently restored Midland Hotel, also recognise the Board and sub-committee Morecambe. members, all of whom volunteer to give up their valuable time to help manage the To assist our colleagues in Wales, a confer- organisation. ence was also held in Cardiff in November 2009, the subject being Sustainable Trans- The Department for Transport (DfT) port and Tourism. This was a very well- remains our key funder and part of our attended event and tied in with the launch agreement with them requires us to de- of a report of the same name. velop an annual workplan, which falls into a number of categories. This year’s Annual Report is broadly structured around these Produce quality publications: categories so that you can see how our Our two key publications, Train Times and working year is taken up. Train on Line continued to be published throughout the year and we have endeav- oured to include features from as wide a KEY OUTPUTS range of member organisations as possible. Assist with delivery of the Operate a Small Grants Scheme Community Rail Development ACoRP continues to maintain and operate Strategy three funding packages – the English A key output of our agreement with DfT Small Grant Fund (ESGF), the Welsh is to support the twenty-eight CR lines Small Grant Fund (WSGF) and the across England and we have provided Designated Community Rail Develop- regular support and guidance, not only on ment Fund (DCRDF). The ESGF and a face to face basis but also via our attend- WSGF are aimed at supporting smaller ACoRP Annual Report 2009-10 ance at the DfT Community Rail Steering projects while the DCRDF is designed to Group. We continue to have a presence at encourage match-funding to achieve larger Northern Rail’s new staff induction projects that may have a meaningful effect training sessions, which enables us to on the line in question. A total of 4 Active Travel conference in the Midland Hotel at Morecambe (Brian Barnsley) £81,990 was granted through the Provide support in setting up new DCRDF, raising an additional £136,605 partnerships in match-funding – over 62% of the total We’ve been supporting eight potential project value (£218,595)! A full list of CRPs, including Birmingham - Stratford the projects in the three funds is provided (Shakespeare Line), North Downs Line, at the end of this document.