Greater Anglia launches Customer and Community Improvement Fund

A Greater Anglia train at Lowestoft railway station. Credit: Greater Anglia

Scheme designed to support local, community-focused rail projects

Greater Anglia is launching a Customer and Community Improvement Fund, designed to support local, community-focused rail improvements across its network. From small scale station enhancements, to integrated transport projects, schemes to introduce new or disadvantaged groups to rail travel, education projects, biodiversity projects, arts or heritage schemes or new ways of promoting services amongst local communities, a wide range of ideas will be eligible for funding. The key requirement is that ideas benefit both the community and the railway.

Overall, £350,000 a year will be allocated to projects across the Greater Anglia network. There is no set or preferred value for the amount of funding being requested for each individual project. However, the maximum value of an application that would be considered would be £50,000, with an aim of supporting a spread of schemes across the region. The higher the bid, the greater the scale of the benefits that would be sought and it is expected that most projects will be smaller scale (and cost between £500 and £20,000).

This scheme is aimed at supporting initiatives which deliver community benefits and enhance rail’s positive role in society. Ideas proposed can be put forward by local organisations or bodies, such as community rail partnerships, station adopters, local authorities or parish councils, community groups, charities, or other stakeholders along the routes served by the train operator.

Jonathan Denby, Head of Corporate Affairs, for Greater Anglia said:

“We’re always looking to enhance the role of the railway in support of the community it serves. We already see great initiatives delivered in partnership with our community rail partnerships and station adopters right across the Greater Anglia network. This new scheme is a way of supporting further locally focused enhancements in line with community needs, with ideas coming from both community rail partnerships and station adopters, but also other local organisations, such as local authorities, parish councils, charities, or other stakeholders.”

Greater Anglia is especially interested in projects which meet one or more of the following aims, which are to:

• benefit rail customers
• increase rail travel
• trial or promote rail with individuals or groups who are not currently rail users
• encourage carbon reduction and/or biodiversity
• promote inclusion and diversity
• make rail travel more accessible
• support integrated transport links
• improve stations or station facilities in ways that complement their role as gateways to the local communities
• connect communities, people, and places
• provide educational programmes that support careers in rail or increase awareness and experience of public transport and rail safety
• address local social needs
• enhance health and wellbeing
• support economic growth

The type of specific initiatives which might be supported include:

• Small scale schemes to provide new, upgraded, or restored station facilities
• Signage and wayfinding schemes
• Better information provision
• Educational, art, history, or heritage projects
• Biodiversity or carbon reduction programmes
• Better integrated transport facilities (or walking or cycling routes)
• Improving inclusion and diversity for those who work within or use the rail network
• Promoting rail amongst under-represented groups
• Research projects that might support future rail improvements
• Other proposals which build or strengthen links between communities and their railways

There could be other ideas or proposals, as long as they are consistent with the aims previously outlined and provide a clear benefit for the local community and/or rail customers.

Station adopters at Bures. Credit: Greater Anglia

Full details, including bid eligibility and criteria, are available on the Greater Anglia website and bids must be submitted online using the online form at www.greateranglia.co.uk/ccif by 23.59 on Friday 13 September. Proposals must be deliverable by 31 March 2025, be focused only on the Greater Anglia network area and have a lasting positive impact for communities and the railway in the region.