06 September 2023, 11:34

South Western Railway invests £1.5 million in projects by local communities

South Western Railway’s Customers and Communities Improvement Fund will support 58 local projects across Berkshire, Devon, Dorset, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Surrey and Wiltshire
Projects ranging from a primary school competition in Staines to improvements at Feniton and Salisbury stations have been submitted by charities, community groups and 15 local authorities
Match funding will take the total investment to £3 million

SOUTH Western Railway (SWR) has announced a £1.5 million investment in 58 local community projects across its network, from Vauxhall in London to Exeter in Devon.

Projects that benefit local communities by improving their surroundings, as well as their residents’ quality of life, are just some of those awarded funding from SWR’s Customers and Communities Improvement Fund (CCIF) round for 2023/24.

The wide range of projects will be funded by a wide range of grants. In Wokingham, SWR has awarded £1,350 to Wokingham In Need - a charity dedicated to helping homeless and vulnerable people - for early years play and learn sessions.

At the other end of the scale, SWR has awarded £76,759 to the University of Portsmouth for the UK’s first ‘skills garden’, an interactive outdoor space that can be used by the whole of the local community.

Included in the 58 projects - 15 of which are run by local authorities in Berkshire, Devon, Dorset, Hampshire, Surrey and Wiltshire – are:

The purchase of wet wheelchairs for Dolphins Swim Club in Woking, to provide more swimming opportunities for people with learning and physical needs. SWR is contributing £3,633.76 in funding.
Active Vision, a 12-month project which will allow Guide Dogs to support 30 vision impaired people living across the SWR network, helping them to get out of their homes and re-engage with the local community. SWR is contributing £25,605 in funding.
Improving facilities at Smallbrook Junction on the Isle of Wight, for passengers connecting between the Island Line and the Isle of Wight Steam Railway, including Customer Information Screens and power and lighting using solar power and biodiesel. SWR is contributing £46,000.

Dolphin's Swim Club, Guide Dogs and the Isle of Wight Steam Railway comment on their funding in the video below.

In total, 58 schemes have been awarded CCIF funding, and when combined with the additional match funding that 35 of the projects have also confirmed, a little over £3 million is set to be invested in these important community projects.

The latest round brings the total number of projects supported by CCIF to more than 100 and SWR has now given more than £7 million in grants across three rounds of funding. Successful projects last year included Shawford station’s Platform One Café and station forecourt improvements at Weymouth.

Peter Williams, SWR’s Customer and Commercial Director said:

“At South Western Railway we are always looking for ways to support the local communities our network serves, and the Customer and Communities Improvement Fund plays a vital role in this by funding schemes that will provide very real benefits for people in towns and villages across our network.

“We’re delighted to help bring these projects to life and we look forward to seeing them completed and flourishing.”

Clare Watson, Head of My Sighted Guide Improvement at Guide Dogs, said:

“We are delighted to receive the funding from South Western Railway; this will enable us to support people living with sight loss along the South Western Railway route to access their community.

“Alongside that, we will be offering South Western Railway employees Sighted Guide Training. Working collaboratively together we help create a more inclusive society for people with vision impairments”.

Chris Sexton, Freedom Leisure’s Healthy Communities Manager for the Woking Area added:

“As one of the UK’s leading not-for-profit leisure trusts, Freedom Leisure is committed to delivering a first class leisure service to the community - improving lives through leisure.

"We are delighted to receive funding from South Western Railway’s Customer and Community Improvement Fund. The funds will enable the purchase of “wet chairs” at Woking Pool in the Park for the Dolphins Swim Group and will provide easier access to water activities for those in the local community with mental and physical impairments. We are extremely grateful to South Western Railway for funding these chairs.”

Steve Backhouse, General Manager of Isle of Wight Steam Railway, said:

“We’re delighted to receive support from South Western Railway’s Customer and Communities Improvement Fund, which will really benefit passengers connecting between our two railways at Smallbrook Junction.

“Creating a station powered by green energy, and encouraging visitors to arrive by public transport, will also play a useful role in improving our environmental sustainability.”

For more information on SWR’s CCIF programme, click here.

Contact Information

South Western Railway Press Office
press@swrailway.com

Notes to editors

Notes to Editors

SWR’s CCIF budget is provided by the Department for Transport.

Across its extensive network, SWR is investing in:

19 projects in Hampshire worth more than £500,000
9 projects in Surrey worth more than £160,000
9 projects in Greater London worth more than £330,000
8 projects on the Isle of Wight worth almost £140,000
6 projects in Berkshire worth almost £100,000
4 projects in Devon worth more than £95,000
1 project each in Dorset and Wiltshire, worth £75,000 and £34,500 respectively
A network-wide project worth around £35,000

Projects were awarded funding based on criteria including:

Addressing community or social need/demonstration of benefits
Deliverability against costs and timescales
Match funding
Alignment with FirstGroup’s charitable giving policy
Links to the railway

The complete list of projects awarded funding are as follows:

Projects in Berkshire:

Project	Value	Organisation	Area	Description
Early Years Play and Learn Sessions	£1,350	Wokingham In Need	Wokingham	Funding for 10 x 45-minute Early Years Play and Learn sessions, facilitated by Circus Scene.
Eco Rewards and Dr Bike	£20,000	Bracknell Forest Council	Martins Heron	An incentive programme to encourage people to make sustainable journeys to Martins Heron station. As part of this, two ‘Dr Bike’ sessions will be held nearby.
Interactive map for Windsor /Reading lines	£3,440 with £1,000 match funding	Southeast Communities rail Partnership CIC (SCRP CIC)	Windsor and Reading	Developing an interactive map for the Windsor to Reading Line, to promote the community rail line.
Kidscape Peer Mentoring for Mental Health	£9,859	Kidscape	Reading	Helping 14 schools within 15 miles of Reading station set up a Kidscape’s Peer Mentoring programme, improving the mental and emotional wellbeing of children and young people by “matching” pupils of a similar age or interests/experience with younger pupils to provide guidance and serve as positive role models.
Samaritans Volunteer Training	£18,690	Samaritans – Slough, Windsor and Maidenhead	Windsor	Training of 30 new listening volunteers for Slough Windsor Maidenhead Samaritans, to enable the continued delivery of the service.
Wokingham station Active Travel enhancements	£46,600 with £10,000 match funding	Wokingham Borough Council	Wokingham	Helping to increase uptake and improve the walking/cycling experience for those using four local stations including “totem”/map-type signage with walking/cycling times, and a marketing campaign aimed at station users.

Projects in Devon:

Project	Value	Organisation	Area	Description
Active Vision	£25,605 with £16,000 match funding	The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association	Exeter	A 12-month project supporting 30 vision-impaired people living across the SWR network, helping them to get out of their homes and re-engage with the local community.
Devon Literary Map	£10,000 with £5,000 match funding	Exeter City Council	Exeter	Funding to develop a digital literary map of Exeter and wider region, highlighting tourist information and travel and transport links and building on Exeter's literary history.
E-Bikes at Axminster station and Town Centre	£50,000 with £15,000 match funding	Axminster Town Council	Axminster	Delivery of ten e-bikes and a docking station close to Axminister station, building on the success of similar projects at other nearby SWR stations.
Improvements to Feniton station	£8,500 with £4,800 match funding	Friends of Feniton Station (Devon & Cornwall Railway Partnership)	Feniton	Clearing of overgrowth on disused platform and installation of planters and heritage signage.

Projects in Dorset:

Project	Value	Organisation	Area	Description
Pokesdown station enhancements – funding for design options development	£75,000	BCP Council	Pokesdown	Development of design options for improvements and enhancements at Pokesdown station

Projects in Hampshire:

Project	Value	Organisation	Area	Description
Bitterne Station House Community Hub	£40,000 with £10,000 match funding	Hampshire Community Rail Partnerships	Bitterne	Lease and refurbishment of Bitterne station, creating a meeting room, workshop area and community café
Changing Places Toilet Facility Lymington	£52,325 with £120,000 match funding	Lymington Community Association	Lymington	New changing places toilet at Lymington Community Centre and provision of upstairs toilet in the same building.
Choose Employability	£12,500 with £12,500 match funding	Shaping Portsmouth Foundation	Portsmouth and Southsea	The programme is for people who need support to create a pathway to employability including residents of the city’s homeless shelters, young adults who have left foster care and adults ending probation who need re-integrating into the world of work.
Fratton Pocket Park	£68,750	Portsmouth City Council	Fratton	Centre piece of a wider project to encourage people to be active in the area, and the end point of a proposed bee corridor along the railway line.
Get on Track Southampton and Portsmouth Phase 2	£22,950 with £10,000 match funding	Dame Kelly Holmes Trust	Southampton and Portsmouth	Working with young people to tackle loneliness, disrupted education and disconnection from social support systems as a result of the pandemic. Aiming to improve employability and life skills.
Grow it, Cook it, Eat it.	£15,000 with £3,000 match funding	Havant Borough Council	Havant	Learning horticultural skills by growing vegetables then preparing the produce for community suppers to alleviate social isolation and loneliness. Surplus produce will go to local Food Banks, while participants can also take produce home.
Headway Portsmouth Sports Therapy Project	£8,867 with £7,200 match funding	Headway Portsmouth & South East Hampshire	Portsmouth	A one-year sports programme, delivered weekly, for people with brain injuries.
Nature is All Around Us - Bitterne Station	£7,344 with £686 match funding	Friends of Bitterne Station, Friends of Cobbett Road Library	Bitterne	Art murals and planters on the two bridges across the railway at Bitterne.
PEDALL Inclusive Cycling in the New Forest	£44,000 with £75,000 match funding	New Forest National Park Authority/PEDALL	Brockenhurst	Cycling-based health and well-being project for anyone with a disability or other barrier to outdoor physical exercise.
Portsea Community Hub	£20,000 with £45,000 match funding	Portsea Action Group	Portsea Island	A project to lease a local shop in the area and create a free pantry and community hub for the local community.
Portsmouth Skills Garden	£76,759 with £54,994 match funding	University of Portsmouth	Portsmouth	Creation of a UK-first "skills garden", an interactive outdoor space which can be used by community regardless of socio-economic status or other factors.
Providing Inclusive Activities and Recreation (PIAR)	£55,405 with £8,067 match funding	Rose Road Association	Southampton	Peer to Peer support network project aiming to improve the experiences of people with disabilities accessing recreational activities across the SWR network.
Re-cycle	£8,829.60	Community Furniture Project Basingstoke	Basingstoke	Training vulnerable volunteers, trainees and local residents in bicycle repair and maintenance skills. Repaired bicycles will be sold at low cost to encourage more local people to cycle.
Renovation of Queen Elizabeth II Park	£10,000	Shawford and Compton Parish Council	Shawford	Light renovation of the park including replacement of a large piece of climbing equipment.
SCPA Afterschool Playscheme	£13,706	Southampton Children's Play Association (SCPA)	Southampton	Funding to help develop Southampton's Children Play Association's community projects and the community garden which brings all ages of the community together.
Socially prescribed cookery classes	£15,000 with £1,737 match funding	New Milton Town Council	New Milton	Collaborating with local GPs to pioneer Social Prescribing initiatives, using non-medical activities to improve the health and wellbeing of the community.
St Denys Allotment	£9,365 with £2,000 match funding	Friends of St Denys	St Denys	Creation of an accessible allotment at local community centre adjacent to railway.
Therapeutic Outdoor Learning Classroom	£13,155	Hampshire County Council	Ashurst and Totton	Creating an outdoor classroom at Minstead Study Centre to allow for outdoor therapeutic intervention work with young people from across Hampshire.
Youth Violence Reduction Aldershot	£18,960	Rushmoor Borough Council/Pete O’Shea Care Coaching and Consultancy	Aldershot	An outreach programme for 11 to 18 year-olds at risk of exclusion, vulnerable to gangs, or with the potential for involvement in serious youth violence. Courses are open to all, and the project is in three phases: ‘Connecting & building rapport’, ‘Realities & testimonials’ and ‘Moving forward’.

Projects on the Isle of Wight:

Project	Value	Organisation	Area	Description
A railway by the sea	£29,959with £18,500 match funding	The New Carnival Company	Isle of Wight	Promoting and enhancing sustainable tourism and travel, and connecting Isle of Wight Coastal Communities, through creative participatory workshops and project legacy interpretation boards.
Brading station to Yarbridge Path Survey	£4,000 with £2,000 match funding	Cyclewight	Brading and Yarbridge	Surveying and scoping report on the Yarbridge to Brading station footpath (B69) for it to become a multi-use bridleway.
Enviro Art	£5,000	Hovertravel	Ryde	An art installation focusing on plastic waste, produced by Hovertravel engineers.
Hover Access Wayfinding	£5,000	Hovertravel	Ryde	Installing wayfinding and planting on the accessible walking route between the Hoverport and Esplanade station.
Sandown Accessibility Scheme	£30,000 with £270,000 match funding	Sandown Community Association	Sandown	Developing accessibility in Sandown, including accessible toilets to be provided by Sandown Town Council, with accessible beach safety service; Providing information screens at Sandown railway station and Sandown Library to provide public transport and community information; and providing 6,000 guide publications for residents and visitors to Sandown.
Smallbrook Connection	£40,000 with £12,250 match funding	Isle of Wight Steam Railway	Smallbrook	Improving facilities at Smallbrook Junction for passengers connecting between Island Line and the Isle of Wight Steam Railway.
Summer Sunday Sandhopper bus	£5,540	Isle of Wight CRP	Sandown	Free bus in summer to take people from Sandown station to the beach.
Waves of Wellness	£6,000	Aspire Ryde	Isle of Wight	Water-based activities to engage people who are identified as high risk of suicide.

Projects in London/Greater London

Project	Value	Organisation	Area	Description
All Ability Cycling Hubs	£44,000 with £48,550 match funding	London Borough of Hounslow	Hounslow, Greater London	Free cycle training for the local community, including a range of adapted bikes for residents with learning and physical disabilities, offering the chance to develop skills with no upfront costs.
Digital Inclusion Workshops	£10,350	Orange Bow CIC	Clapham and Vauxhall, London	Project teaching digital skills to vulnerable and hard to reach individuals
Haaya3	£55,000 with £17,250 match funding	Hounslow Asian & African Youth Association	Hounslow, Greater London	A tri-generational project for girls aged 5 to women aged 95 from ethnic minority backgrounds, focusing on different skills for each age group, including developing a mini organic farm with vegetables and poultry.
Kew Bridge Cycle Parking	£25,893.94	London Borough of Hounslow	Kew Bridge, Greater London	Providing additional cycle parking in the vicinity of Kew Bridge railway station, delivering 43 new cycle stands that will provide a convenient location for rail users and visitors to the wider Kew Bridge and Strand on the Green area.
Safe Space Richmond	£12,000 with £2,000 match funding	British Transport Police	Richmond, Greater London	Providing a safe space at the Richmond station every Friday and Saturday, 2100-0100, in collaboration with White Ribbon UK, Street Pastors, Richmond Borough Council, Metropolitan Police SWR Rail Community Officers.
Trackside	£13,500	Inspiring Audio	Clapham, London	Creation of 12 Podcast to engage children and their families with the SWR network and inspire them to travel, explore and discover.
Vauxhall City Farm Development	£70,668 with £502,877 match funding	Vauxhall City Farm	Vauxhall, London	Funding for improvements on the city farm to create a more welcoming environment and enhance the experience of people arriving to site.
Winding your way to the Windmill	£75,000 with £25,136 match funding	Wimbledon and Putney Commons Conservators	Wimbledon and Putney, London	Improving accessibility with the restoration of 2km of footpaths and cycleways that connect to the Windmill on Wimbledon and Putney Common and installation of new cycle racks.
Creative Youth Connects – Station to Station	£30,000 with £6,000 match funding	Creative Youth	Norbiton, Hook and Tolworth	Project focusing on multi-arts creative activity for 5 -13 year olds and their families, serving three areas of low -socio economic deprivation and low cultural engagement in the Norbiton & Chessington area.

Projects in Surrey:

Project	Value	Organisation	Area	Description
Bookham Bus Stop Bench	£4,000	Bookham Residents Association	Bookham	A bench for passengers waiting for the bus service or taxis at Bookham station.
Community Allotment and Sensory Gardens at Holme Farm	£5,000 with £5,000 match funding	Holme Farm Community Workshops & Gardens	Addlestone	Fully accessible allotment and sensory garden, including a polytunnel that will act as an outdoor classroom.
Dolphins Swim Club	£3,633.76	Freedom Leisure	Woking	Purchase of wet wheelchairs to provide more swimming opportunities for those with learning and physical needs.
Hinchley Wood cycle stands on west side of tracks	£24,750 with £22,500 match funding	Hinchley Wood Residents Association	Hinchley Wood	Constructing a 20-bay cycle shelter to supplement existing facilities to promote ‘first and last mile’ sustainable transport options for those travelling by train.
Peer Productions	£9,400	Peer Productions	Woking	Generation Girls delivers confidence and self-esteem building activities to young women aged 15-18 with learning disabilities using facilitators and peer-volunteers
Railway Bridge Public Art	£8,000	Visit Staines	Staines	Launching a contest for pupils from primary schools in Spelthorne Borough to design what they think town centres will look like in 2050. A winner will be chosen from 30 entries that will be displayed below the Iron Bridge on Staines High Street.
Sensory Community Officer	£32,940 with £3,000 match funding	Sight for Surrey	Bookham	Appointing a Sensory Community Officer to the Community Engagement team, ensuring greater awareness of the needs of the sensory community accessing, and being included in, travel and social inclusion activities.
Woking Station Secure Cycle Parking	£40,000 with £10,000 match funding	Woking Borough Council	Woking	Providing 50 secure cycling storage units installed within 50 metres of the station entrance/exit on the town side
Woking station to RHS Wisley bus	£26,745 with £46,752 match funding	Royal Horticultural Society	Woking	Funding for the bus service which has started running from Woking to RHS Wisley and the promotion of the service

Projects in Wiltshire

Project	Value	Organisation	Area	Description
Salisbury station northern entrance reopening	£30,000 with £25,000 match funding	Wiltshire Council	Salisbury, Wiltshire	Designing the re-opening of the northern entrance to Salisbury station.

Projects across the SWR network

Project	Value	Organisation	Area	Description
Suicide prevention in SWR communities	£35,035	Samaritans	Across the SWR network	Project to raise awareness and reduce rates of suicide in communities served by SWR.

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Operating over 1,500 services each weekday, SWR employs more than 5,000 people and provides commuter inter-urban, regional and long distance services to customers in South West London, the southern counties of England and the Isle of Wight.

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