Acton Bridge Parish Council

A new itravel on-demand rural bus service will start in your area on Monday, 31 July 2023.

This £1.075m, three-year pilot service has been funded by the Department for Transport’s Rural Mobility Fund and commissioned Cheshire West and Chester’s Transport team to improve connectivity and reduce isolation in rural areas of the borough.

This new scheme will cover a wide area including Helsby, Frodsham, Delamere and Acton Bridge as well as other villages, where no commercial services are available.

• The bus service can be booked using a mobile phone app, or phone call, which allows a resident, or group of residents, to request a bus for a specific journey. 

• The service is not tied to a fixed route, allowing for quick and efficient shared trips without lengthy detours or fixed schedules, however it will link to train stations to further enhance connectivity for these areas.

• There will be an introductory single £2 flat fare to mirror the Government’s national scheme.  People aged 19 and under can travel half fare.

• Two 16-seater ‘mini’ buses with eye-catching livery will be available between 7am and 7pm, Monday to Friday, with low-floor access.

Bookings can now be taken. More information on how to book and the areas covered can be found on the Council’s website: itravel On Demand – Connecting People and Places | Cheshire West and Chester Council

Cheshire West and Chester Council’s Cabinet endorsed the borough’s local Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Strategy at today’s (11 July) meeting.

The Council has developed a draft Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Strategy (EVCI) in response to the Climate Emergency declaration and Air Quality Management Plan.

The EVCI Strategy covers the Council’s approach to supporting the delivery of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles, including for public use, for Council fleet and at Council workplaces.

The Strategy sets out several ambitious targets for the roll-out of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, including a target to be a regional leader in terms of charge points per 100,000 population by 2025, and a national leader by 2030. The Council is on track to achieving the 2025 target, maintaining this position will require a significant increase in charge point provision.

The strategy also supports the Council’s application to the Office of Zero Emission Vehicle’s Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) fund. The LEVI fund aims to deliver a step-change in the deployment of local on-street charging infrastructure. The Council has been assigned a provisional allocation of £2,049,000 from this fund, and an expression of interest was submitted in May 2023. If successful, a full business case will be submitted by November 2023. The funding would be awarded 2023/24. The funding will allow the council to leverage significant private sector investment to facilitate rapid expansion of the borough’s public charging infrastructure network.

A six-week public consultation on the draft version took place between 1 February and 15March 2023. Responses showed a high degree of support for the policies set out in the strategy, both from those who already drive electric vehicles and those who do not.

Councillor Karen Shore, Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways and Transport said: “There were over 200 responses to the consultation earlier this year. 70 per cent of respondents said they agreed with the aims of this strategy. Most respondents (53.9 per cent) considered that the Electric

Vehicle Charging Infrastructure will have a positive impact upon them.

“Our consultation showed that the ability to charge at home or away from home were the two most important factors to those considering whether to buy an electric vehicle and at present most respondents did not consider our existing charging infrastructure to be sufficient to meet existing demand.

Welcome to my latest newsletter for residents of Cheshire.

Since my last update, there has been plenty of activity from my office (the OPCC) and the Constabulary to support victims and prevent and tackle crime across the county. The OPCC has launched new and better ways of communicating with residents and secured even more funding to protect victims of Domestic Abuse. Meanwhile the Constabulary has seen progress made in key areas of the Police and Crime Plan, which led to my recent decision to extend the contract of Chief Constable Mark Roberts.

Making Cheshire even safer for all (sendibm1.com)

Train operating companies, including London Northwestern Railway have been developing high level proposals to modernise ticket retailing and the way they provide customer support at stations.

In addition to the significant cost challenges facing the rail industry post-covid, customer habits have also changed, with just 12% of tickets now sold through ticket offices and they recognise that they need to adapt to customer habits.

With that in mind, the government and industry have set out a vision for retailing in rail which includes:

• Developing a multi-skilled workforce
• Staff moving out from behind glass windows to be closer to customers on platforms and concourses
• Providing more flexibility in offering the right type of assistance and support face to face

London Northwestern Railway, along with the other train operators, have now received a mandate from government to consult on these proposals for modernisation. A full statutory public consultation facilitated by Transport Focus and London TravelWatch was launched on 5 July and will run until 26 July.

Subject to the outcome of the consultation, the proposals would include the phasing out of ticket offices, the multi-skilling of station staff and the creation of hub stations to offer enhanced retail facilities and customer support whilst the industry fares, ticketing and retail reforms are delivered.

Further information on their proposals for each of their stations is available at https://www.londonnorthwesternrailway.co.uk/travel-information/at-the-station/proposed-changes-ticket-offices.

They recognise that this change will create some uncertainty and concern for some people and they are committed to supporting those customers to ensure the railway remains accessible to all.

To comment on proposed changes to ticket offices at stations on the London Northwestern Railway network, customers can contact Transport Focus, the independent transport user watchdog, by Wednesday 26 July 2023 at TicketOffice.WMT@transportfocus.org.uk or Freepost: RTEH-XAGE-BYKZ, Transport Focus, PO Box 5594, Southend on Sea, SS1 9PZ. For more information about how to have your say visit transportfocus.org.uk.

Please see below the NEW Term 1 programme for Northwich Work Zone starting in September

As well as the usual IT provision they have a lot of NEW provision including :

• Introduction to Business Admin EDSQ Level 1 & Award in Computing & Software
• Maths Award – Accredited Entry 3
• Functional Skills Maths – Accredited Levels 1 & 2
• Functional Skills English – Accredited all levels