Abridged Minutes of the SELRAP executive meeting of 23rd Aug. 2016
Membership - 490.
Press and media report
· Press (JW) - there are ongoing issues getting press attention. Other outlets need developing.
· Facebook (WE) - the new SELRAP Facebook page is up and running, with 18 likes at present.
· Twitter - will soon be linked to the Facebook page.
· General email - a general e-mail account needs to be set up (done - DW).
· Wikipedia - needs updating (WE).
Financial Report.
· There is £5,000 in the "GRIP3 fund" and a useful working balance on top.
· Sponsorship is to be sought from various bodies.
Reports from recent meetings.
· Jun. 15th - Rail North
o A useful meeting with Rail North David Hoggarth & Jim Bamford of RN at WYCA.
o The main advice, received from David Hoggarth, was that SELRAP definitely needs a sponsor to take the scheme forward. Ideally this will be one or more county council (s).
o Rail North is a consortium of all 29 local authorities
o Rail North can only promote schemes that are supported by a sponsor.
o We need to get the Skipton to Colne studies into the forthcoming RN Northern Powerhouse/ NR Northern Network Study. The scope of these studies will be firmed up later this year, to start in 2017.
· Jul. 5th - Ministerial Meeting at DfT Westminster
o We had a very successful ministerial level meeting at DfT in Westminster Ministers and DfT; Andrew Jones, Andrew Stephenson, Colin Poole (apologises Julian Smith)
o Again the advice was that SELRAP definitely needs a sponsor to take the scheme forward – ideally one or more county council (s).
o We also were give advice, by the Minister, that SELRAP must engage the Lancashire LEP.
o Colin Poole of DfT confirmed it is OK for SELRAP to directly approach TfN’s chief executive David Brown (see below).
Future Meetings
· Sep. 15th - Transport for the North
o A follow-up meeting arranged after the DfT meeting in July, to take place in Manchester.
o Present will be David Brown (chief executive of TfN) and Jim Bamford (Rail North).
o Agenda for this meeting is still to be confirmed
· TBA - Lancashire County Council and Lancashire LEP
o The objective will be to solicit support from LCC as sponsor for the project, with the LEP providing possible backing.
o Edwin Booth (chair of the Lancashire LEP) has recommended that we also involve the Local Growth Fund.
· TBA - LCC Socio–Economic Study
o The brief for this study has been seen and previously circulated.
o It was agreed that we will contact the LCC to find out what is happening.
· Oct. 4th – Drax
o Drax are happy to meet us again. We may further explore the freight implications.
· Possible meetings being explored.
o Other Ministerial and MP Level meetings
o WYCA and Leeds LEP etc
o Arriva TOC
AOB
· The leaflet design is to be modified, and another 5000 printed.
· The next At a Glance is to wait until we have some more positive news, and therefore will probably be in the autumn/winter.
· Earby Model Railways Society are putting on a display of “new Earby Station Model”. SELRAP will help and also put on a display.
· David Penney has acknowledged our incorporation into the “Great North Plan”
· Peter Bryson has been invited to the “Rail Breakfast Northern Networking" event on behalf of SELRAP.
· Action will be taken to contact MPs via constituents that are members of SELRAP (Paul Haywood and David Byrne).
· The “Northern England” map of MP’s is out of date on the website (now corrected).
· Trawden Agricultural show - attended by John West and Derek Jennings, who distributed leaflets and newsletters.
· Special Event – Guest Speakers Christian Wolmar and Nigel Harris - November 14th.
o Arranged and speakers confirmed.
o This will take place in the main room at Herriot's.
o Open to members and public, with a maximum of 100.
o Invitations will go out by email (post where required) with an RSVP to avoid exceeding capacity.
o As this is still an open meeting, there will still be a cut down version of the normal content.
o Although Earby lost this open meeting because of the expected numbers, meetings will be re-scheduled to ensure that Earby does not lose out.