Strategic Planning, Sustainability and Transportation Committee

11/09/18

External Board/Outside Body

External Board/Outside Body

Medway Valley Line Steering Group

Councillor(s) represented on the Outside Body/External Board

Clive English

James Willis

Report Author

Clive English

Date of External Board/Outside Body Meeting Attended

Quarterly plus an annual stakeholder meeting. Various promotional events ie school visits, safety in action.

Purpose of the External Board/Outside Body:

This is the local rail partnership and its work therefore overlaps to some extent with the Kent Community Rail Partnership. Its main role is to bring together local Borough, and Parish Councils and other stakeholders along the line. It discusses detailed issues from new ticket machines and re-timetabling services to reusing signal boxes and promoting the railway for tourism purposes. To this end much of the activity is promotional by running events such as walks and historical recreations such as the WW1 train, or aimed at public involvement i.e. community adoption of stations.

Update:

The work this year has been a mix of long standing events such as participation in the Safety in Action event run by MBC for Schools and other school visits  and newer activities such as the St Pancras/Kings Cross rail tourism promotion. This year has also seen considerable discussion and representations made on the re-tendering and re-timetabling exercise. There has also been a renewed drive to try to secure the re-use of redundant rail buildings.