11 June 2025, 10:09

South Western Railway continues its support for local communities through Customer and Communities Improvement Fund

South Western Railway is investing more than £500,000 in local communities through its Customer and Communities Improvement Fund, with match funding taking the total amount available to projects to over £1.1 million.
19 local projects across Devon, Dorset, Greater London, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Surrey and Wiltshire will benefit from this funding
Grants have been awarded to support a varied range of schemes, from equipping a kitchen for young people to learn catering and hospitality skills in Southampton to community-based support for survivors of sexual harm in Surrey
The 19 projects, which were submitted by charities and community groups, are all short-term schemes, intended to be completed by April 2026

South Western Railway (SWR) is continuing its support for community projects around its network with an investment of more than £500,000 through its Customers and Communities Improvement Fund (CCIF).

This year, SWR will fund 19 local projects, and match funding raised by the projects will bring the total invested to over £1.1 million this year. Since the first round of funding in 2018, SWR’s CCIF fund has awarded over £8.6 million to over 100 projects.

Funding has been awarded to activities that vary greatly in scope as well as location. In London, SWR will be supporting a creative skills programme to increase confidence and direction for underrepresented young people in Lambeth who are not in employment, education or training.

In Dorset, funding will be used to start to convert the station house at Sherborne station into a community hub.

The amount that projects have bid for from CCIF this year varies widely with grants ranging from £10,000 to £63,000. Mustard Seed Autism Trust in Hampshire will use the £10,000 for their Super Sensory Kids programme, which supports autistic children who have sensory processing and motor skills difficulties through specialist occupational therapy.

The largest grant of this round of funding is going to South Bank BID, to fund the delivery of a 12-month Youth Outreach pilot in and around Waterloo station. The £60,000 award will support a full-time worker who will identify and safeguard young people under the age of 18, who are missing from home, rough sleeping and at risk of criminal or sexual exploitation.

All the projects to be awarded funding, which have been submitted variously by charities, community groups and local authorities, are short-term schemes which should be completed by the end of April 2026. 

Peter Williams, South Western Railway’s Customer and Commercial Director, said:

“We’ve been amazed by the number and variety of initiatives that have applied for grants from CCIF this year and it’s been a difficult job to narrow it down to the 19 projects that we’re supporting.

“These projects will make a difference in communities all around our network and help people from Waterloo to Weymouth and

“Over the last eight years, we have invested more than £8.6 million in a wide range of community-based projects through CCIF. The work that the groups and charities we fund do to support their local areas can never be underestimated and it’s important to us that these CCIF grants can help to make life better for people in towns, villages and cities across the south west.”

Sarah Clements, Co-founder at Mustard Seed Autism Trust, said:

“We are thrilled to receive a grant of £10,000 from the South Western Railway Customer and Communities Improvement Fund to support our work with local families. This funding will enable us to deliver our Super Sensory Kids project which supports the physical and sensory needs of autistic children. We are incredibly grateful for this funding and the impact it will have on the children's physical and mental health."

Derek Beer, Chair of Blackmore Vale CRP, said:

“It is really good news for Sherborne and North Dorset that we can now proceed with the project to bring back Sherborne station house into use, benefiting not just rail users but also the wider community.

“This project offers the opportunity to work with stakeholders to provide much needed services to the area, at the same time as improving the passenger environment.

“A careful approach is needed to make sure that we make the most of this opportunity to ensure that the outcomes are of the greatest benefit to as many people as possible, at the same time as being sustainable in the long term.

“We are grateful to SWR for their support and commitment to improving facilities in this part of Dorset “

Contact Information

South Western Railway Press Office
press@swrailway.com

Notes to editors

Project	CCIF grant	Organisation	Area	Description
Inclusive Cycling in the New Forest	£13,500	PEDALL Ashurst Community Hub	Ashurst	Funding a pilot initiative to offer part-time employment for individuals with lived experience and/or learning disabilities.
Parenting Workshops for Refugee Families	£13,371	Katherine Low Settlement	Clapham Junction	Funding a comprehensive programme combining trauma-focused parenting sessions with practical educational advice for refugee parents.
Cranbrook Community Crossing	£42,000	National Trust Places of Holistic Interest or Natural Beauty	Cranbrook	Funding will be used to deliver a feasibility study for the construction of a bridge and multi-use trail.
Advocacy in Refuge	£22,897	I Choose Freedom	Farnham	Delivering domestic abuse services across Surrey for women and families in communal refuges, and self-contained 'refuge for All' units.
ISVA Outreach Service	£44,962	Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre - Surrey	Guildford	Offering free, community-based support for survivors of sexual harm in Guildford and Woking, especially in high deprivation areas.
Summer Project for Disabled Young People	£26,866	Challengers	Guildford	Funding Guildford Youth Scheme’s summer project allowing disabled young people aged 11-18 to enjoy leisure and social opportunities that they are often excluded from by mainstream providers.
Super Sensory Kids	£10,000	Mustard Seed Autism Trust	Hook	Mustard Seed Autism Trust’s Super Sensory Kids project provides specialist occupational therapy to support autistic children with sensory processing and motor skills difficulties.
Dancing Books	£42,255	Dance West	Hounslow	Dancing Books uses dance and storytelling to enhance language development and literacy, in pre-school-aged children and their families. The CCIF grant will fund free sessions aimed at low-income and EAL (English as an Additional Language) families.
Young Cultural Changemakers	£10,000	Artwork	Sandown	Empowering vulnerable young people to make a positive difference in their local area by making Sandown station more welcoming to the whole community.
Station Building Rescue	£37,600.00	Blackmore Vale Line CRP	Sherborne	Funding for Phase 1 (feasibility study to building acquisition) of this project to turn the Sherborne station house into a community hub.
FLOURISH	£19,000	Oasis Church Southampton	Southampton	Funding from CCIF will go towards equipping a kitchen for young people aged 12-16 to learn catering and hospitality skills
Senior Saints	£60,000	Saints Foundation	Southampton	A community programme helping over 60s in Southampton to keep their independence by taking part in active group sessions and social activities.
Youth Outreach and Mentoring	£34,289	Oasis Hub Mayfield	Southampton	Delivering both detached and club-based youth work targeted at high-risk groups of young people, working in areas identified by the police.
Future Creators	£20,000	Find Your Feet Careers & Enterprises CIC	Vauxhall	The Future Creators programme equips marginalised individuals with creative skills and employability training tailored to their unique needs with workshops, certifications, and community events.
Warminster Detached Youth Work 2025/26	£11,552.20	Wiltshire Area Youth Service	Warminster	Working with local schools, the youth probation service, social services and the local police to deliver weekly youth work sessions aiming to reduce antisocial behaviour in Warminster.
Lambeth Mentoring Scheme	£20,000	The Kids Network	Waterloo	Supporting the Kids Network’s Lambeth Mentoring Programme providing one-to-one mentoring for children aged 8-11 facing significant adversity
Youth Outreach Worker Pilot	£63,255	South Bank BID	Waterloo	Funding a Youth Outreach Pilot programme to help vulnerable young people under 18 at risk of criminal and sexual exploitation around Waterloo station
Identify You Creative Programme (IYCP)	£20,000	Trash Gxng Academy C.I.C.	Waterloo	Funding a creative skills programme to increase confidence and direction for underrepresented young people in Lambeth who are not in employment, education or training.
Platform Rail Education Scheme	£16,119	South Wessex CRP	Weymouth	Platform is a Community Rail scheme for young people, building understanding of rail safety, sustainable and healthy travel and their confidence in using public transport. The funding will deliver the programme to 1200 students in specifically targeted schools.

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South Western Railway

Operating over 1,500 services each weekday, SWR provides commuter, regional and long distance services to customers in South West London, the southern counties of England and the Isle of Wight.

As well as commuters and business travellers, SWR transports leisure travellers across the region, to many tourist and heritage sites, and the numerous major sporting and social events that take place along the route every year.

SWR provides easy and convenient mobility, improving quality of life by connecting people and communities.

About DFTO

DFTO is the government’s public sector rail owning group. Its purpose is to bring all currently privately-owned train operators into public ownership in advance of the creation of Great British Railways in 2027.

The group’s current train operating companies are: c2c, Greater Anglia, LNER, Northern, Southeastern, South Western Railway, TransPennine Express and WM Trains (London Northwestern Railway and West Midlands Railway).

DFTO runs more than 8,500 services each weekday and delivers more than 640 million customer journeys across its networks every year.