South Western Railway announces seven-figure investment in community projects

South Western Railway (SWR) has announced a £1.5m investment in 58 local community projects across its network, from Vauxhall in London to Exeter in Devon.

Projects that benefit local communities by improving their surroundings, as well as their residents’ quality of life, are just some of those awarded funding from SWR’s Customers and Communities Improvement Fund (CCIF) round for 2023/24.

The wide range of projects will be funded by a wide range of grants. In Wokingham, SWR has awarded £1,350 to Wokingham In Need, a charity dedicated to helping homeless and vulnerable people, for early years play and learn sessions.

At the other end of the scale, SWR has awarded £76,759 to the University of Portsmouth for the UK’s first ‘skills garden’, an interactive outdoor space that can be used by the whole of the local community.

In total, 58 schemes have been awarded CCIF funding, and when combined with the additional match funding that 35 of the projects have also confirmed, a little over £3m is set to be invested in these important community projects.

The latest round brings the total number of projects supported by CCIF to more than 100 and SWR has now given more than £7m in grants across three rounds of funding. Successful projects last year included Shawford station’s Platform One Café and station forecourt improvements at Weymouth.

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.

“We’re delighted to help bring these projects to life and we look forward to seeing them completed and flourishing.”

Clare Watson, head of My Sighted Guide Improvement at Guide Dogs, to which SWR provided £25,605 funding, added: “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”.

By Matthew Neville – Senior Correspondent, Bdaily

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