The Quarterly Joint Management Group Meeting of the South Fylde Line Community Rail Partnership (SFLCRP) took place on Tuesday 25th July 2023. The meeting was held as an online meeting and attend by representatives from Community Rail Lancashire, Northern Railways, Lancashire County Council, Blackpool Council, Network Rail, Blackpool Transport, local Rail User Groups and Friends of Stations.
Owain Roberts, Northern’s Regional Stakeholder Manager with SFLCRP Chair Tony Ford
SFLCRP Chair, Tony Ford welcomed everyone to the meeting and after a round of introductions the minutes from the last meeting were approved and matters arising discussed.
Richard Watts, Secretary of the Partnership then gave an update on the Activity Plan via a presentation. and highlighted a number of points:
+ Concerns about the proposed wholesale closure of ticket offices across the Northern area and encouraged people to feed in comments to the public consultation.
+ Explained about the various funding streams that were going to be available over this financial year.
+ Noted that two members of the CRL staff had been involved in a successful Three Peaks Challenge taking on Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon), Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis in aid of the Railway Children charity.
+ Noted that CRL has been awarded the Autism Friendly Award for 2023 by the National Autistic Society.
+ Thanked all the volunteers for all the hard work that they carry out on the stations along the route.
The full presentation can be downloaded on this link: SFLCRP Activity Plan Update July 2023
Martin Keating from Northern showed a presentation and gave an update on the business including the ongoing industrial action and performance. Noted that Craig Harrop has been appointed to the role of Interim Regional Director. Also spoke about the community rail aspect and the various events that had taken place across the area. The full presentation can be downloaded here; Northern Update.
Mike Cliffe from Lancashire County Council and Melanie Taylor from Blackpool Council also gave short updates and the representatives from the various Friends of Station Groups updated on their work.
The next meeting was set for 21st September 2023.