Charlbury and Hanborough Stations - service improvements and car parking

[whole diary]

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

For anyone interested, the planning application documents can be viewed at: :
http://planning.westoxon.gov.uk/documentviewer/documentslist.aspx?PK=851053&APPNUMBER=12/1082/P/FP

As the Hanborough Parish public Transport Representative I am asking the parish council to make the following commnets in its submission to the planning authority:

In principle I fully support the application as these additional car parking facilities are so desperately needed, not just by existing rail users but also as a means to help relieve (in a very modest way) the A40 peak hour congestion in West Oxon. It will attract more users to Hanborough station and thus add to the volume of traffic using the A4095 through Long Hanborough and will I suspect attract some adverse comments because of that. However there is currently a very strong road safety problem with the current up to 60 or so vehicles manoeuvring to park on the A4095 grass verges so the additional off-street parking facilities should provide an offsetting environmental improvement. The number of additional vehicle movements will, in my view, form only a very small proportion of the total movements  at peak hours.
 
Looking at the plans I note that in fact the application is not just confined to the proposed new car park. Changes to parking arrangements will be made in the existing car park so I would like to point out some problems there that should be dealt with as part of this application.
 
Although a significant number of the new parking spaces will be occupied by existing rail users displaced from the A4095 grass verges, the availability of additional vehicle parking facilities will without doubt attract more users to Hanborough station. At present there is one small waiting shelter on the platform (also financed substantially from County Council funds) that can accommodate about a dozen people in inclement weather conditions. Currently at peak hours, many people waiting for their train cannot get into the shelter. With more rail users this problem can only get worse. It should be noted that Pershore station on the Worcestershire section of the Cotswold Line has two shelters but at the last official user count (2010/11) attracted only 56% of the rail users compared to Hanborough (67230 at Pershore and 119210 at Hanborough). I believe that a planning condition requiring the installation of an additional shelter should be imposed.
 
Finally, I have been given to understand that the project^s budget includes financial provision for the introduction of on street parking controls that will presumably mean yellow lines. This will be an essential measure because as parking charges will be imposed for all of the new and existing parking facilities, without on-street parking controls, there would be reluctance among many rail users to pay for car parking and the parking on the grass verges would be worsened. The application seems to make no mention of this factor and therefore a condition should be imposed in any planning consent clarifying a requirement for appropriate off-street parking controls to be introduced.

[IndustryInsider]

This surely reinforces a discussion on another thread that they should have redoubled Honeybourne - beyond Pershore and Moreton - beyond Hanborough rather than Moreton - Honeyborne, ensuring both stations are on double track rather than stopping on single line. Particularly at the eastern end where there is very significant latent potential.

I think we'll just have to accept they didn't do that and move on!      Though, hopefully, continued increase in custom will make the case for the two final sections to be redoubled sooner rather than later, and the resignalling schemes at Oxford and Worcester will then make those sections more affordable as the new infrastructure will be accommodated by the TVSC^» (Thames Valley Signalling Centre - about) at Didcot.  If I was a betting man, I'd say the Wolvercote to Charlbury section will be redoubled within 10 years, with Pershore to Norton Jn. dragging its heels and getting done some time in the late 2020s.

As the Hanborough Parish public Transport Representative I am asking the parish council to make the following commnets in its submission to the planning authority:

Some very sensible comments, too.  The waiting shelter is indeed in need of expansion, perhaps keep it, but provide another one like those installed at Honeybourne to double the sheltered space on the platform?  There is room for that.

I hadn't realised that car parking charges would then be applied, though of course that would make sense.  Let's hope they're kept at reasonable rates to avoid the parking control problems you mention.

[ChrisB]

These grants are made on the proviso that the projects are money-generating

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

With regard to redoubling the sections from Wolvercot and Norton the problem has been the lack of signalling capacity at each end of the line. It must wait for that to be provided before any such work could procede and then only when there is a commercial case.

T
he gw rus included an aspiration for the Wolvercot to Charlbury section to be redoubled.

[ChrisB]

Earliest this could be done is during the Oxford resignalling that must come with electrification. This project will also relocate this signalling to Didcot.

[IndustryInsider]

Earliest this could be done is during the Oxford resignalling that must come with electrification. This project will also relocate this signalling to Didcot.

Oxford resignalling is less than 3 years away.  I very much doubt it will be anywhere near that quick, but will hopefully feature as a project in the CP6^▸ (Control Period 6 - The five year period between 2019 and 2024) years 2019-2024.   The 'Oxford Corridor' enhancement plan will hopefully get the go-ahead next week though to complement the electrification scheme.

[Richard Fairhurst]

As the Hanborough Parish public Transport Representative I am asking the parish council to make the following commnets in its submission to the planning authority:

Very good response. (As the newly appointed Charlbury PTR I was wondering whether I'd see you at the most recent meeting but I gather you weren't there!)

On this point:

It will attract more users to Hanborough station and thus add to the volume of traffic using the A4095 through Long Hanborough and will I suspect attract some adverse comments because of that.

With my Sustrans ranger hat on, we would very much like to see the Witney-Hanborough roadside cycle path extended as far as the A44 - providing a safe route to the station from Woodstock and Bladon, and thereby taking some traffic off the road. As you probably know this was planned back in LTP1 days, but the money ran out at Hanborough. There's a lot of support in Bladon for the idea and it would be terrific if Hanborough were to echo it.

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

With regard to RF's comments, I had intended to be there, as I usually am, but old age creeps one and I simply forgot on the day with other things on my mind. Yes - the cycle track was originally intended to go all the way from Witney to Woodstock and as you say the money ran out, partly because the scheme was so badly designed that much of it had to be rebuilt through Hanborough. They forgot that with homes adjacent to the track, raising the level caused flooding to homes and the chicane near the rail nstation was completely rebuilt because they forget to put a camber in!. Although Bladon was supportive of the scheme, there were so many objections from Bladon residents, particularly on the narrow road section, that, I think, it gave the county officers the opportunity to abandon it when the money ran out. The most dangerous part for cyclists is, in my opinion, the absence of any path on the North Leigh by-pass where vehicles often go way beyond the 50 mph limit.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Oxford Mail:

Station car park extension work running on time

Work to extend the car park at Charlbury station is running on time, despite the discovery of a hidden culvert on the site, with completion still due in September.

The ^470,000 project will add an extra 75 spaces ^ a 50 per cent increase from the current 150 parking bays. An area of land between the station approach road and the B4437 to Burford, which used to be leased to the town council for allotments, is being converted to help cope with growing passenger numbers at the station.

The number of passengers using the Cotswold Line station in 2010-11 was 244,586, up by 5.6 per cent from 231,582 in the previous 12 months.

And train operator First Great Western last week applied for planning permission from West Oxfordshire District Council to build a ^400,000, 191-space extension to the car park at Hanborough station, almost quadrupling spaces there.

Passenger numbers at the station, which is off the A4095 in Long Hanborough, have surged in recent years, from 76,580 in 2006-7 to 119,210 in 2010-11, a rise of 55 per cent.

[IndustryInsider]

Here's a couple of views showing the progress on the car park expansion at Charlbury.

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

The planning application for the redevelopment of the Hewden Plant Hire site (that backs onto Hanborough Station) into a 191 space station car park was approved by West Oxon D.C. Uplands Planning Sub-Committee last Monday, 3, September.
Teresa Ceesay, the ever energetic Cotswold Line Manager said on 5 September:
Great new i have been today out with Peter from our part of the property dept  that deals with the new car developments ,talking to the BMW garage manager and the also the couple that run the nursery on the other side of the new car  park area , we then went down to the bus museum and had a chat with them, All around the vibes are really positive ,we will be visiting them again in a few weeks time once the plans to start clearing the site.

[IndustryInsider]

Do we have rough start/finish construction dates for the new car parks at Pershore and Hanborough?

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

Re Hanborough Car Park extension, site clearance work starts this week according to Teresa, CL Stations Manager for FGW^▸ (First Great Western) with construction work to start soon after.

I heard this today re Hanborough Car Park:

FGW^s Project Manager states that the Hanborough project is still out to tender and a contractor is still to be appointed.  However, FGW are confident of starting work on Monday 1st October and aim to have the car park completed by 21st December 2012.

[IndustryInsider]

Good stuff.  I know the expansion schemes at Hanborough and Pershore (and Radley, Langley, Pangbourne, Kemble and Cheltenham Spa) need to be completed by March 2014, but the sooner the better!

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

I will believe that 21 December date for Hanborough car park extension when I see it. However portable lighting has been reported as having been located in the new car park site this week. I cannot confirm this myself however.