Published on: Tuesday, 12 December 2017
Last updated: Tuesday, 12 December 2017
Greater Anglia has appointed Paul Haynes as its first Community Partnerships Manager to strengthen its support for the region’s five Community Rail Partnerships (CRPs) and its wider community links.
His role will be to help the CRPs become even more effective in putting rail right at the heart of the local community - responding to local needs, supporting economic growth and tourism, improving connectivity and increasing social inclusion.
The approach will include annual action plans which build awareness, encourage and increase rail travel, strengthen community links and further improve station facilities.
CRPs are made up of representatives from communities along the rail lines, including parish councils, local authorities, businesses and other interested organisations who work together to promote local train services, build community engagement, improve station facilities, enhance integrated transport links and support timetable improvements.
Greater Anglia is also is more than doubling its annual core funding for community rail to £240,000 and is holding an annual community rail conference as well as running special marketing workshops for all its CRPs, to help spread best practice and increase patronage on the existing CRP lines in Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire.
The operator is also looking at extending the community rail approach to other routes in East Anglia.
Paul Haynes commented, “It’s a great time to be joining Greater Anglia, with new trains on the way along with significant investment Greater Anglia is placing into the current Community Rail Partnerships and a focus on developing new ones. There continues to be a real emphasis on the economic benefit of the railway to the community and I’m looking forward to working with the CRPs and the wider community to promote these opportunities and benefits.”
Commenting on Paul’s appointment Jonathan Denby, Head of Corporate Affairs for Greater Anglia said, “At Greater Anglia we’re committed to playing a positive part in the communities we serve. Community Rail Partnerships have been a great success in building the role of rail in local life, helping to improve services, station facilities, promote rail travel and improve integrated transport links in line with community aspirations. With the appointment of Paul Haynes as our Community Partnerships Manager, we intend to build on that progress and make our local rail lines even more successful, with the great opportunities presented by the arrival of new trains in 2019/20.”
Paul has experience in transport marketing with Stansted Airport and Southend Airport. He has also been a station adopter for Greater Anglia at Greater Chesterford.