The Clitheroe Line and East Lancashire Joint Community Rail Partnerships held their quarterly management group meeting on Wednesday 19th July 2023. The meeting was held online and attended by representatives from Community Rail Lancashire, Northern Railways, Lancashire County Council, Pendle Borough Council, Ribble Valley Borough Council, Rail User Groups and Friends of Stations.
The volunteers of Church & Oswaldtwistle Rotary Club
Chair of the Joint CRPs Mike Cliffe welcomed everyone to the meeting and a round of introductions followed as there were new members to the group present.
The minutes form the last meeting held on 19th April 2023 were approved and there were no matters arising from the minutes.
Secretary of the two CRPs Richard Watts showed a presentation that covered an update on the Activity Plan and highlighted a number of points:
+ Expressed concerns about the proposed ticket office closures and noted that if it goes ahead will affect 4 booking offices directly covered by the 2 CRPs namely Accrington, Burnley Manchester Road, Burnley Central and Preston. Richard encouraged people to reply to the consultation which has now been extended until 1st September 2023.
+ Noted that CRL has achieved the Autism Friendly award from the National Autistic Society see https://communityraillancashire.co.uk/news/autism-friendly-award-success/ for details.
+ Noted that Team Arlo (Karen Bennett, Dave Savage, Emily Dawson and Bessie Matthews) had successfully completed the Three Peaks Challenge for the Railway Children charity.
+ Noted that Community Rail week 2023 had been a success with a total of 13 events over 5 days see – https://communityraillancashire.co.uk/cr-week-2023/ for details. Also noted that 1700 pupils had now benefitted from an Avanti Feel Good Field Trip.
+ Asked for suggestions to help with the production of a Line Guide for the Clitheroe Line to help promote the line. All suggestions to richard.watts.crl@gmail.com
+ Thanked all the volunteers who carry out work on the as Friends of Stations Groups.
The full presentation for the Activity Plan update can be downloaded on this link: CL&ELCRPs Activity Plan Update July ’23
Owain Roberts & Martin Keating from Northern Railways gave a business update via a presentation which included the latest on the ongoing industrial action, performance on the two lines and a community rail update. The full presentation can be seen on this link: CL&ELCRPs Northern Presentation July 2023
Other reports followed from LCC’s Mike Cliffe, the Community Rail Network’s Ian Davis, Ribble Valley Rail’s Peter Eastham and although not present at the meeting Peter Wilcock from the British Transport Police supplied a report.
The next meeting of the group is to be on Wednesday 27th September 2023 and will again be an online meeting.