Better Transport

Lancashire County Council has a growing number of well-developed rail initiatives to its credit. One of the most notable is the completion of an interchange at Burscough Bridge Station.

The problems
Burscough, with a population of nearly 10,000, is the largest community along the Southport to Wigan rail line and is the point at which the Southport to Wigan and Preston to Ormskirk railways cross each other. There is no connection between the two lines and the stations serving them – Burscough Junction and Burscough Bridge – are some distance apart. In 2002 Burscough was identified by the Northwest Regional Development Agency as a community in need of economic regeneration.

The West of Lancashire Community Rail Partnership, in conjunction with Lancashire County Council, undertook a Travel Needs Assessment of the area. They found that people from the surrounding rural communities were travelling into Burscough not only to use the facilities within the village but also to interchange between bus and rail, or bus and bus, for health, education, leisure and work purposes. The study suggested that appropriate facilities would allow for more growth in sustainable travel.

The solution
The findings of the Travel Needs Assessment suggested that a more identifiable interchange point would be beneficial. Burscough Bridge station offered the best location. It had better opportunities for access and subsequent social and economic benefits for the community, as well as the environmental benefits associated with public transport.
The project’s development stage illustrates a number of useful points:

• Partnership was important in ensuring synergy with wider policy and benefits. The Community Rail Partnership and Lancashire County Council have been able to apply expertise beyond rail-centred outputs, to develop a more robust case for funding
• Full use was made of Northwest Regional Development Agency designation for economic regeneration. Regional agencies can play a key role in both justifying a project and, in some cases, facilitating funding
• A robust justification of need was key. Wider issues were identified in advance, and this helped in the consultation with stakeholders. As a result, everyone involved agreed to develop a formal bus/rail interchange at Burscough Bridge station
• The funding. The Community Rail Partnership (CRP) concept has been adopted by the Department for Transport, along with a Community Rail Development Strategy. Specialist CRP Officers can often be an important part of local authority public transport teams.

For the Burscough Bridge Interchange project, the West of Lancashire CRP Officer developed various funding bids to secure the £760,000 capital and £377,000 revenue support needed. Funding came through a partnership between Lancashire County Council, Northwest Regional Development Agency, the Countryside Agency and West Lancashire District Council. Northern Rail provided an ‘in kind’ contribution through the involvement of key people at all stages of the scheme.

The scheme was completed and opened to the public in November 2005 and is proving a great success:

• A brand new, state-of-the-art interchange building comprises a travel and information office, a café and staff accommodation. The travel and information office sells the full range of National Rail products. The interchange also provides passengers with a heated waiting area and an accessible public toilet
• The interchange is staffed Monday to Saturday and employs two full-time staff and one casual member of staff. Since opening, hours have been extended to meet growing demand
• A new bus waiting facility has been provided outside the main station entrance, along with a taxi and ‘kiss and ride’ area where passengers can be dropped off. All local bus services have been re-routed to serve the interchange, and timetables of some services have been adjusted to improve coordination with train arrival and departure times
• Secure cycle lockers are provided
• An extensive CCTV system covers the areas

Future opportunities
The various project partners all agree that the Burscough Interchange project is a resounding success.
The interchange has only been open for a short period but already there has been a sharp growth in usage of Burscough Bridge station. Latest figures show that usage is up 14% on the previous year and is increasing. This is bringing new challenges:

• There is increasing demand to extend opening times and to open on Sundays. To meet this the project is now looking to take on an additional member of staff
• The car park is now full
• The secure cycle parking is proving very popular and additional cycle lockers will be obtained shortly
• Further improvements to local bus services are being pursued to improve coordination and to provide better links to local communities. In time a through bus-rail ticket may be introduced – especially when the line is formally designated as a Community Rail Line by the Department for Transport.

The project is being carefully monitored in order to provide useful data to influence future similar initiatives. While this may seem an obvious thing to do, it is surprising that many organisations ignore this opportunity both to gain from the excellent publicity and to justify by example the development of future schemes.

The county council, in partnership with Northern Rail, has recently completed a survey of various stations which, economically, would struggle to justify investment. From this initial survey, Accrington Station has been chosen to act as a demonstration of eco-building techniques. The council hopes to develop a demonstration project that uses the latest in ‘green’ building methods and renewable energy technology. The emphasis on eco-initiatives should significantly widen the funding opportunities. On the basis of experience, the Council sensibly realises that the funding of rail development often requires more outputs than a new station building.

More case studies