South Western Railway investing £1.5 million in community projects
South Western Railway (SWR) has unveiled 58 community projects across its network, in which the company is investing £1.5 million in 2023/24 via its customers and communities improvement fund (CCIF) round.
Included in the projects are 15, which are run by local authorities in Berkshire, Devon, Dorset, Hampshire, Surrey and Wiltshire.
Among them is Active Vision, a 12-month project, where SWR is contributing £25,605, which will allow guide dogs to support 30 vision impaired people living across the rail company's network.
When combined with the additional match funding that 35 of the projects have also confirmed, a little over £3 million in all is set to be invested in the local projects, said SWR.
Peter Williams, SWR’s customer and commercial director said: "At South Western Railway we are always looking for ways to support the local communities our network serves, and the Customer and Communities Improvement Fund plays a vital role in this by funding schemes that will provide very real benefits for people in towns and villages across our network.
Clare Watson, head of my sighted guide improvement at Guide Dogs, added: "We’re delighted to help bring these projects to life and we look forward to seeing them completed and flourishing.
"We are delighted to receive the funding from South Western Railway; this will enable us to support people living with sight loss along the South Western Railway route to access their community.
"Alongside that, we will be offering South Western Railway employees Sighted Guide Training. Working collaboratively together we help create a more inclusive society for people with vision impairments”.
In Devon, SWR is investing in four projects worth more than £95,000, while one project in Dorset is worth £75,000 - for developing design options for improvements and enhancements at Pokesdown station, near Bournemouth.
The latest round brings the total number of projects supported by CCIF to more than 100 and SWR has now given more than £7 million in grants across three rounds of funding.
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