Update on station redevelopment plans

Meeting between the SVR Holdings Representatives, Bridgnorth Project Leader and the Plan B Team
on 6th March 2013

The purpose of the meeting was to share ideas and concerns about the proposed development at Bridgnorth and, as stated in the noticeboard issue of 18th February, to explore how the project can be moved forward by working together as a team.

The meeting was conducted in a very constructive way and each person around the table was able to express his own ideas about the way forward. There was unanimous agreement about many of the discussion points, starting with the wider view of conservation within the railway as a whole and then coming back to the Bridgnorth project:

1. There is a commitment by all parties to set up a Conservation and Heritage Committee as soon as possible and to obtain Holdings Board ratification on March 19th. This Committee will be charged with overseeing and advising on conservation and heritage aspects of all projects dealing with the built environment.

2. There is an urgent need to produce a Conservation Plan for the whole railway by which new projects can be assessed

3. There is a need to conduct a survey of the whole railway to identify areas where the heritage image could be improved.

4. This is all done to re-establish the core values of what the SVR stands for in terms of heritage, preservation and history

5. The Bridgnorth project should be looked at within the context of the railway as a whole. Work should now be undertaken to re-assess the needs of that location and develop an updated project brief, to ensure that any proposals are related to that defined need, to prepare a business plan to prove that any development is sustainable, and to look at the availability of finance to support this project.

6. The design of any new works should be compatible with the existing environment and use principles and details that would have been used by the railway companies of the period at that location

7. The meeting recognised the invaluable input that the volunteer workforce makes to the railway. In particular it recognised that the skills of SVR volunteers, including those who attended this meeting, are such as to enable a scheme to be delivered that would be appropriate, and which would address most of the criticisms that have been aired recently.

The Board meeting of the 19th February stated that the presentation of the plans for Bridgnorth would be shown to the Plan B team first and then released to SVR live. However, such progress has been made since that Board meeting, and bearing in mind the points listed above, that it was considered that there was now no value in releasing information that was already out of date. It was therefore decided that further work would be undertaken by this group on the way forward with the Bridgnorth development. A new joint presentation will now be prepared which will reflect the latest position and which the group will then release for further consultation.

The meeting largely dealt with strategic level ideas and concerns. Matters of detail were purposely not addressed until the matters of strategy had been discussed. It was agreed that a further meeting should be held to continue the discussion and examine some of the more detailed issues relating to conservation and the Bridgnorth project in particular. This meeting has been scheduled for 27th March, where hopefully the momentum which has been started by this important and constructive meeting can be continued.

David Postle
Chairman

Nick Paul, Mike Ball, Nick Ralls, Paul Taylor
Severn Valley Holdings Company representatives

Ian Baxter, Bob Marrows, Kevin Simpson, Ced Jameson, David Redfern
Plan B team