Present: Ken Allott, Dennis Fancett, John Earl, Coral and Colin Patmore, Trevor Watson, Freda Lander.
Apologies: Janet McLeod Trotter, Nic Best, Gordon Barclay.
1. Dennis read through the main points of the minutes of the last meeting, when Northern were present – disabled access, parking, signage, timetable gaps, operational point on Chathill timings, promotion of services to Belford. Dennis had had approval for the points and “warm” correspondence from Northern, who had expressed appreciation for Senrug`s “sensible” approach to the issues. Dennis will keep talking to them about the minutes and pressing for a full response, so far not forthcoming.
2. Correspondence – Joy Wight had written to Alistair Darling via Denis Murphy. Some issues had been referred to Northern, otherwise a rather general reply from Derek Twigg. Ken recommended the route to Alistair Darling and the Department for transport through your MP as a method that was likely to lead to a better response than a direct approach. A letter from Gail Van Schalkwyk raised issues to do with Widdrington, also Belford and local rail services – the point was made that people will have bought houses in Widdrington with the promise of commuter services to Tyneside, and will be understandably disappointed if those are no longer available. The point about “annual growth in passenger numbers of 5%” was a good one to make in all our correspondence, it was felt, as that was the statistic quoted by Northern themselves. Letter from Coral to the new museum curator at Woodhorn(museum due to open in June or July) asks for his support – Dennis felt we should underline the possibility of having a dedicated platform for the museum and access to the Wansbeck hospital at the Woodhorn site. Trevor had written to Denis Murphy about disabled access to the Northbound platform, and this had been passed on to the Under-Secretary of State. Question from Freda about replacing the original flat crossing – the general answer was that it was too dangerous and against Health and Safety, although possibly OK in the past. Dennis felt strongly that we should not press for reinstatement of this, as it weakened our case for a proper ramp from the northbound side, and would be extremely dangerous for the present day railway traffic. Trevor said that the main point he had made to Denis Murphy was that Morpeth was the main and most convenient railhead for South East Northumberland, and could he please make the case urgently for any money becoming available? The point was raised that we still had not tried direct action on this one, and Ken said he would look into taking Court action – would ask David Hilton, who had brought up the point some time ago.
3. Ashington, Blyth and Tyne Campaign. It appeared that the ABT would only get a passing reference in Northumberland`s Local Transport Plan, and we were agreed that this was not good enough. If there was funding to be applied for, the County needed to be in a position to push it higher up the agenda if necessary, and at present they seemed to be deferring the whole project until 2011. Ken had written to the paper, and John pointed out the latest report in the Herald. Dennis offered to write to local councillors. John said that the exhibition on the ABT had had a successfully extended run of a month at the Morpeth library, and was to move to Blyth library next Friday. This would hopefully raise awareness. On a question being raised about the present state of finances, it was felt that enough was there to make a good job of printing the forthcoming leaflet on the ABT – Ken to pursue the final design with his contact.
4. Trevor mentions old Blyth and Tyne station building – was there any news about Network Rail`s plans for it ? Nobody present knew, but John also mentioned that no-one had taken up the lease on the main station building.
5. Talk by John Peter Buckley of the Friends of the Settle and Carlisle on the 16th of March. Morpeth Methodist Church was booked for 7pm. John to do advert.
6. John reported that our subscription for ACORP (The Association of Community Rail Partnerships) was due – at £47, this probably meant that attendance at their forthcoming conference on the 24th would be difficult to pay for – about £35 fee for this. It was generally agreed that it was more important to keep in touch with them than to attend every conference. Subscription was therefore voted. Colin to pursue this.
7. What is happening about plans for buses stopping at station? An accessibility point was there in the County`s Structure Plan. Point made that even the buses which do go past the station, e.g. the M17 from Lancaster Park, are not advertised as doing so, even at the bus station, therefore an opportunity for integration of services is missed. Was silly to advertise this bus for the Rookwood Centre, when few people knew where this was. Dennis felt strongly that as in other parts of the country, all buses which passed a station should be noted as such, whatever the final destination. This is good for buses as well as trains. Ken said he would write to Mark Sellin about this, to see what could be done to improve information.
8. Ruth Hughes is on maternity leave, and was then leaving. It was agreed that we should mark her outstanding contribution to SENRUG in some way.
9. Petition via Railfuture on North-South highspeed line. Raised much discussion, points being would it take money away from the rest of the network – if it`s new money, perhaps that was not an issue, but with GNER raising fares to pay for their franchise already, how long would we be paying for highspeed travel ? Point also made that the new line was talked up as being through Manchester, therefore from a North-East perspective what does it do for us ? Agreed that we should sign up as individuals if we wished to, but there was too much doubt on the matter to make it SENRUG policy at present.
10. Trevor had written to Brian Johnson at Virgin Trains to ask whether there was any chance of stopping more trains, as apparently the service so far has been successful in terms of passengers. Dennis added that as a general timetable point, we should get the services to rationalise somewhat; mentioned a 10.24 Newcastle departure that was followed very closely by the 10.26. The question was also raised as to whether the 11.18 from Morpeth could be made a cheap-ticket train – Ken said he would ask.
11. AGM. Date fixed for the 13th July. John would ask Paul Salveson again if he could come to talk.
12. Next Meeting: Thursday 16th March at Morpeth Methodist Church, with John Peter Buckby of the Friends of the Settle and Carlisle.
13. Next Committee Meeting: 11th May at Ken`s.
