Category: Political

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Political

Burton to Leicester Railway (Ivanhoe Line) Reopening Gets The Green Light

Our Full Press Release Follows:

Rail Minister Wendy Morton today announced that the case to reopen
the Burton to Leicester Railway line to passengers has been approved to
the next stage.

SWADLINCOTE DERBYSHIRE 18 NOVEMBER 2021


Today the Rail Minister, Wendy Morton MP, announced that she will support 10 proposals to reopen closed passenger lines in England. One of these is the proposal submitted by CRIL (The campaign to reopen the Ivanhoe Line) to reopen the railway from Burton to Leicester to passengers.

Funding will be provided to Network Rail to lead the next stage of
development work in collaboration with the Campaign to Reopen the Ivanhoe Line (CRIL). This will be released in a phased approach,with the work assessed as it progresses to support decisions on continuing development towards a full Outline Business Case and the decision to proceed with implementation.

The Department will continue working with CRIL and Network Rail on the development of this scheme, and are in touch with Douglas McLay and Bruce Wakley (CRIL) regarding next steps.

Wendy Morton said “The Department’s assessment considered the strategic and economic case presented, deliverability of the scheme and infrastructure requirements, with a focus on the transport issue and strength of case for intervention. This scheme presents significant potential to improve connectivity for communities along the route of the Ivanhoe Line and I look forward to seeing it progress.”

CRIL Spokesman Douglas McLay said “ We are delighted with this announcement which brings the re-opening of the Ivanhoe Line much closer. Passenger services on the Line would provide real value for the relatively modest government investment needed. The reopening of this railway would give a real boost to the often forgotten populations of South Derbyshire and Northwest Leicestershire. We look forward to working closely with the Department for Transport and Network Rail to deliver a railway service which meets the needs of local people”

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

CRIL (The Campaign for the Re-opening of the Ivanhoe Line) was formed by the late Geoff Bushell in 2019. He tirelessly raised awareness and support for the reopening of the Ivanhoe Line and formed a team of volunteer specialists to support him. He gained the public support of all nine first and second tier local authorities along the line, as well as all the local MPs, all of whom continue to support the Campaign.

The proposal to restore passenger services between Burton on Trent and
Leicester,and to communities along the route, was included in the first phase of the RYR programme following a submission by CRIL. CRIL received government and local authority funding to prepare a Strategic Outline Business Case (SOBC) which was submitted to the Department of Transport in May 2021. This SOBC now has full DFT support

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Financial Political

CRIL Market Stall

CRIL staff hard at work manning our stall at Coalville indoor market yesterday. A very successful event providing an opportunity to meet the public and hear their views and to sell our calendar. Sales went well and we recommend placing orders to crilchair@gmail.com to avoid disappointment.

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Financial Political

CRIL Market Stall

We have booked a stall in the Coalville indoor market on Saturday 26th September. In the absence of events due to Covid this is one way of meeting people to gather support for our campaign. It will also provide an opportunity to sell the CRIL calendar which will give our campaigns a much needed boost.

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Demand Political

The New CRIL Display

The CRIL display has received a much needed revamp and is now ready to roll. The process during the Covid-19 lockdown has at times been frustrating, however, our thanks go to Jake at Design4innovation for his perseverance and for doing such a splendid job.We hope that it will see some action before the year is out.

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Financial Political

We are winning!

We are delighted to announce that we have been one of ten campaigns selected from a field of sixty entrants to receive central Government support for the “Restoring your Railways” fund.

In a letter copied to our Chair, Geoff Bushell, Chris Heaton-Harris MP, Minister of State for Transport confirmed that a panel including the Minister for Regional Growth and the Chair of Network Rail had agreed our submission was worthy of funding and additional work.

We will be “agreeing potential research remits and joint governance and timescales”, which in everyday language means that there is still a long way to go. However the selection of our bid makes it clear that we have a credible case which warrants both greater support and scrutiny than ever before.

We would like to thank all members of the team for their incredible hard work in putting together the twenty-page bid with so much care and attention to detail. It is just so exciting to see all the effort pay off.

We’ll be keeping everyone updated in the months ahead, and if you want to get priority information, please consider becoming a member of our group and supporting us financially for the day to day running costs we incur.

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Demand Political

Leicester Meeting

Due to the Coronavirus the scheduled meeting at the Secular Hall in Leicester on 23rd April will be deferred until the crisis has passed. An alternative date will be advised in due course. We still look forward to meeting the Leicester public but at a time when we can all be safe.

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Demand Political

Live From The Field

Our next open public meeting will be held on Thursday 23rd April in the Gimson Room at the Secular Hall, Humberstone Gate, Leicester. The times are 19:00-21:00 hrs.This is our first meeting in Leicester and is long overdue and we look forward to discussing our plans with the good folk of Leicester and entering lively debate. This is part of our plan to attend events and hold meetings along the length of the line, we are open to suggestions, if any member can recommend a suitable venue or event please pass the details to “crilsecretaryivanhoe@gmail.com“. We look forward to seeing you all there.

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Demand Political

Moira Station

Moira Station

Moira station opened in 1849 and closed in 1964, the station building survives and is now a private dwelling. In it’s day it served the communities that surrounded the Rawdon and Donisthorp pits of which very little trace remains today. The area has changed dramatically since those days with the emergence of the National Forest, with the attractions at Conkers and the National Cycling Centre, together with Moira Furnace and the Ashby Canal project. Thousands of visitors arrive each year by car and it is proposed that a station is reopened to service this growing tourist demand as well as the local community and businesses. Both the National Forest Company and Ashby Woulds Town Council are in support of a new station. On the 11th November the Chair of CRIL, Geoff Bushell, presented the case at a council meeting and it has been agreed that the council will work with the group to identify a suitable site. Previous feasibility studies of the line have omitted a station at Moira due mainly to constraining the service level to week days only. We at CRIL believe that the line will be heavily used at weekends for leisure and tourism and that this will provide further justification for the restoration of a passenger service.

Categories
Demand Political

Feasibility Study Meeting

FeasibilityStudyAgenda

The feasibility study committee met for the first time on Thursday and was attended by CRIL members and representatives of the supporting Councils resulting in a constructive discussion. This is just the start of a lengthy process and a follow up meeting has been planned in the New Year. Our sincere thanks to NWLDC for kindly allowing use of their meeting rooms for this purpose.

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Financial Political

Local Councils Fund Feasibility Study

We are delighted to announce that multiple local county and district councils have jointly funded a new feasibility for the re-opening of the Ivanhoe Line.
The funding, totalling £60,000 will be used to engage a rail consultant to write a new feasibility report with the historic context of the 2009 and 2016 reports that we believe had omissions. For instance, the 206 report did not look at future housing development and used an out of date demand model.
The feasibility study will be commissioned in 2020 and should be finished within the year. We will then have an “oven ready” project to take to Government which will enable us to lobby much more effectively.
CRIL would like to thank all councils who have supported this important stage of our journey.