Access for all - nominations requested by 1st October 2018

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Dear Graham

The Department for Transport (DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)) have asked Great Western Railway and Network Rail to nominate stations for Access for All funding.  £300 million is available to station projects across the UK^▸ (United Kingdom), with the improvements being delivered within Control Period 6 (2019 to 2024). Selected stations will receive an accessible route into the station and to and between each platform.

There is no limit to the number of nominations we can make, but all nominations need to be ranked against specific criteria in the Appendix below and the DfT has asked for evidence to demonstrate how the stations meet the criteria.

We are working together to prepare our nominations and we would be very grateful if you could review the criteria and let us know which station(s) you think should be nominated and why by Monday 1 October.

To help with that we have created an online survey form on the following link https://tinyurl.com/y7no3k9l. Please use the document upload function at the bottom of the form to provide any evidence to support the nomination.

Please feel free to submit your own thoughts, or to send to others who you think might have suggestions. This is a nationwide bidding process and the additional detail that local knowledge can supply will be invaluable.

Schemes that have been previously been deferred do NOT need to be resubmitted. These go forward automatically, and we do not therefore need to rebid for lifts at Cheltenham Spa, Weston-super-mare or Theale.

Access for All funding is limited, it will not cover all the improvements we want to see, but with your help we believe we can submit compelling nominations that will help us deliver the more accessible railway that our customers want and deserve.

If you would like further information on the process, or on any aspect of our service, please do not hesitate to contact either of us and we will do our best to help.

Best wishes


Mark Hopwood and Mark Langman
 
MD GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)
MD NR^» (Network Rail - home page) Western Region

APPENDIX: Department for Transport Access for All funding

Nominated stations will be assessed primarily against similar criteria to those used in previous Control Periods.

These are:

·         Footfall, using figures published by the Office of Rail and Road (we will supply these)
·         Stations where there is a particularly high incidence of disability in the area, based on Census data
·         A particular local circumstance such as the proximity of hospitals, a school for disabled children or a military rehabilitation centre for example, or stations with relatively high numbers of interchange passengers
·         The availability of third party funding
·         Stations that would help to fill “gaps” in accessibility on the network



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"Access for all" strikes me as a goal that should apply to everyone ... not only to those with prescribed disabilities, but those limited in other ways by the lack of provision at transport access points. See people struggling with heavy luggage over the footbridge at Trowbridge as they change trains, or a lack of customer assistance for any passengers even at stations serving populations of over 25,000 ... the newcomers and nervous aren't offered the help to overcome their lack of understanding of the system - emotional disability if you like. 

Then there's a certain station with access for none to the westbound platform - and that truly does meet the "needs access for all" headline. Of course, that's carefully excluded by the scheme's "Catch 22". Qualification is based on passenger journey numbers ... but the scheme is all about providing access so that all passengers can make a journey in the first place!

[JayMac]

It's hardly 'Access for All' if the funding is limited to a selection of competition winner stations and based on predetermined eligibilty criteria.

[ChrisB]

If there's only a limited (ie NOT unlmited funding), it makes sense to use a set of criteria. Assuming annual funding, they will all get done eventually.

Nominated stations will be assessed primarily against similar criteria to those used in previous Control Periods.

These are:

·         Footfall, using figures published by the Office of Rail and Road (we will supply these)
·         Stations where there is a particularly high incidence of disability in the area, based on Census data
·         A particular local circumstance such as the proximity of hospitals, a school for disabled children or a military rehabilitation centre for example, or stations with relatively high numbers of interchange passengers
·         The availability of third party funding
·         Stations that would help to fill “gaps” in accessibility on the network

[grahame]

It's hardly 'Access for All' if the funding is limited to a selection of competition winner stations and based on predetermined eligibilty criteria.

I think you share my distaste for double-speak ... it will soon be 1984 ...

[JayMac]

If there's only a limited (ie NOT unlmited funding), it makes sense to use a set of criteria.

In which case the project shouldn't be under the 'Access for All' banner.

'Access For Some, And Maybe Others In Future, But No Guarantees' would be a more appropriate, if less catchy, banner. 

[ChrisB]

Access for All "at stations we fix"

[grahame]

Long-awaited improvements for the distinctly disabled un-friendly Theale Station will be carried out after it was confirmed it had been selected for the next round of government funding.

The station in West Berkshire currently has no facilities for disabled people, but is set for a revamp in the next round of the government Access for All funding.

Reading West MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) Alok Sharma confirmed there is no need to bid again as the station will receive funding.

No details of when the work will be carried out have been revealed yet.

Is this "Access for All"?   Is there a full list somewhere or has the MP jumped the gun?

From GetReading

[stuving]

Long-awaited improvements for the distinctly disabled un-friendly Theale Station will be carried out after it was confirmed it had been selected for the next round of government funding.

The station in West Berkshire currently has no facilities for disabled people, but is set for a revamp in the next round of the government Access for All funding.

Reading West MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) Alok Sharma confirmed there is no need to bid again as the station will receive funding.

No details of when the work will be carried out have been revealed yet.

Is this "Access for All"?   Is there a full list somewhere or has the MP jumped the gun?

From GetReading

It was approved before, then deferred for more thinking. The thread on that starts with an announcement that identifies its funding as from the Local Sustainable Transport Fund, but I think that was another part of the upgrade. The GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) letter above says that it will not need to be resubmitted, which I take to imply it remains approved and deferred. Once its new price tag is known it may become undeferred, but I think it is just as likely that its approval will be called into question, since that can hardly have been unconditional.