Landmark Levelling Up Fund To Spark Transformational Change Across The UK
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from the UK Government.
These are the four bullet points.
- More than 100 projects awarded share of £2.1 billion from Round 2 of government’s flagship Levelling Up Fund.
- Projects will benefit millions of people across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and create jobs and boost economic growth.
- £672 million to develop better transport links, £821 million to kick-start community regeneration and £594 million to restore local heritage sites.
- Successful bids include Eden Project North in Morecambe, a new AI campus in Blackpool, regeneration in Gateshead, and rail improvements in Cornwall
The press release expands the last bullet point.
Projects awarded Levelling Up Fund money today include:
Eden Project North
Eden Project North will receive £50 million to transform a derelict site on Morecambe’s seafront into a world class visitor attraction. It will also kick-start regeneration more widely in Morecambe, creating jobs, supporting tourism and encouraging investment in the seaside town.
Note.
- Because of its closeness to the West Coast Main Line, it will have excellent rail connections to all over the North of England and Central and Southern Scotland, through Lancaster, which will only be a shuttle train away.
- One of High Speed Two’s direct destinations will be Lancaster, which will be served by High Speed Two by hourly trains to Birmingham, Carlisle, Crewe, London, Preston, Warrington and Wigan and by two-hourly trains to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Lockerbie and Motherwell.
- London and Lancaster will be a journey of just two hours and three minutes.
I believe that this high quality rail access will ensure the success of the Eden Project North.
Cardiff Crossrail
Cardiff Crossrail has been allocated £50 million from the fund to improve the journey to and from the city and raise the economic performance of the wider region.
The Cardiff Crossrail is obviously a good project from the little that I’ve read about it. But it does need a web site to explain the reasoning behind it.
Blackpool Multiversity
Blackpool Council and Wyre Council will receive £40 million to deliver a new Multiversity, a carbon-neutral, education campus in Blackpool’s Talbot Gateway Central Business District. This historic funding allows Blackpool and The Fylde College to replace their ageing out-of-town centre facilities with world-class state-of-the-art ones in the heart of the town centre. The Multiversity will promote higher-level skills, including automation and artificial intelligence, helping young people secure jobs of the future.
Blackpool certainly needs something.
My suggestion in Blackpool Needs A Diamond, was to build a second Diamond Light Source in the North to complement the successful facility at Harwell.
I don’t think the two proposals are incompatible.
Fair Isle Ferry
Nearly £27 million has been guaranteed for a new roll-on, roll-off ferry for Fair Isle in the Shetland Islands. The service is a lifeline for the island, supporting its residents, visitors and supply chains, and without its replacement the community will become further isolated.
Note.
- Will it be a British-built ferry?
- Will it be hydrogen-powered? After all by the time it is built, the Northern Scottish islands will be providing enough of the gas to power a quarter of Germany.
- Surely, a hydrogen-powered roll-on, roll-off ferry will be a tourist attraction in its own right.
I hope the Government and the islanders have a good ship-yard lined up
Gateshead Quays And The Sage
A total of £20 million is going towards the regeneration of Gateshead Quays and the Sage, which will include a new arena, exhibition centre, hotels, and other hospitality. The development will attract nearly 800,000 visitors a year and will create more than 1,150 new jobs.
I don’t know much about the Sage, but this project seems very reasonable.
Mid-Cornwall Metro
A £50 million grant will help create a new direct train service, linking 4 of Cornwall’s largest urban areas: Newquay, St Austell, Truro, and Falmouth/Penryn. This will level up access to jobs, skills, education, and amenities in one of the most economically disadvantaged areas in the UK.
I wrote about this scheme in The Proposed Mid-Cornwall Metro, where I came to this conclusion.
I believe that a small fleet of Hitachi Regional Battery Trains could create an iconic Metro for Cornwall, that would appeal to both visitors and tourists alike.
Judging by the recent success of reopening the Dartmoor Railway to Okehampton in Devon, I think this scheme could be a big success. But it must be zero-carbon!
Female Changing Rooms For Northern Ireland Rugby
There is £5.1 million to build new female changing rooms in 20 rugby clubs across Northern Ireland.
Given the popularity of the female version of the sport in England, Scotland and Wales, perhaps this is a sensible way to level it up in Northern Ireland. As rugby is an all-Ireland sport, perhaps the Irish have already sorted the South?
Calcutta Cup By Lumo
According to Scottish Rugby, the Culcutta Cup between Scotland and England next year is at Murrayfield on the 5th of February 2022.
I have just looked up services that day on Lumo’s web site.
- It would be possible to travel North on the 05:45 train, which arrives in Edinburgh at 10:06.
- After the match, there is a train South at 17:56, which arrives back in London at 22:29.
- Tickets are available at £45.50 both ways.
As Lumo could probably run both services with ten-car trains, that hold eight hundred passengers, this could earn ticket revenue for Lumo of £72,800.
The Northern Ends Of The Platforms At Kings Cross Station
These pictures show the Northern ends of the platforms at Kings Cross station.
The two trains are both nine-car Hitachi Class 800 or Class 801 trains and I was standing in line with their noses.
I wonder what is the maximum length of trains that can be handled in these platforms.
- They can certainly handle ten-car trains, as LNER run these to Leeds.
- Hitachi have designed the trains, so they can be up to twelve-cars, which are 312 metre long trains.
- Looking at maps, I suspect that eleven-car trains would be the largest that can be handled.
But surely to maximum the number of passengers handled in the station, the platforms should be able to handle the longest Hitachi trains.
- Unless, the capacity of an individual train is limited by the gate-lines and Network Rail have said that ten-car trains are the longest allowed.
- Or would twelve-car trains be two far to walk with lots of luggage.
But ten-car trains would allow Lumo to double-up trains to increase capacity selectively, when perhaps, there is an important sporting event.
So when say the Culcutta Cup is taking place, an early morning train to the match and a late evening return could be doubled to add another four hundred seats.
But the current Lumo timetable only shows just two trains on a Saturday.
- London King’s Cross – Edinburgh, which leaves at 10:25 and arrives at 14:57.
- Edinburgh – London King’s Cross, which leaves at 08:49 and arrives at 13:17.
Not very good to go to the rugby or a birthday lunch with your mum.
But realtimetrains reveals two early morning paths allocated to Lumo.
- London King’s Cross – Edinburgh, which leaves at 05:45 and arrives at 10:06.
- Edinburgh – London King’s Cross, which leaves at 05:36 and arrives at 10:04.
So you can get to the other capital, but is there a later last train back?
Oh! Yes there is! And again they are revealed by realtimetrains.
- London King’s Cross – Edinburgh, which leaves at 18:27 and arrives at 22:56.
- Edinburgh – London King’s Cross, which leaves at 17:56 and arrives at 22:29.
Is the Southbound service earlier, as Murrayfield is closer to Waverly station, than Twickenham is to King’s Cross?
If the return was fifty pounds and the trains were doubles, that could be revenue of around £ 40,000. There would be more electricity and track access charges, and they’d need extra train crew, but Lumo would surely be quids in!
Lumo’s financial model has several nice little earners.
End Of The World! All Blacks Stunned By Incredible English
The title of this post, is a caption to a picture on the NZ Herald web site.
I watched and enoyed every minute of the match!
Rugby Is A Team Game And So Is Formula One!
On Saturday morning, the Japanese rugby team, showed how teamwork is important, as they hardly seemed to make a mistake.
The Welsh and the Australians, both played their parts in an excellent match.
And then we had the Russian Grand Prix at lunchtime!
Mercedes got the teamwork like clockwork and they won.
As to Ferrari, the two drivers felt out with each other and Vettel didn’t obey team orders.
I have watched Formula One for many years, and every so often Ferrari seem to lose the plot!
A Residential Development Convenient For Rugby And Train Travel
I went through Twickenham station yesterday and took these pictures.
Surely many more stations could sustain a substantial development of much-needed housing on the top.
Rugby Goal-Light Technology Trial At Principality Stadium
The title of this post is the same as that on this article on the BBC.
This is the first paragraph.
New technology to light up rugby posts in different colours to show whether a kick is successful was trialled at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.
Although, I’m not registered blind, I do have problems with spotting movement in certain light conditions and at certain angles.
If I regularly went to rugby, these lights could improve my experience.
They are a good idea.
What puzzles me, is that the post says they could be used in American Football.
You’d have thought that the Americans would have already done it, but obviously they haven’t!
Moving Football From Hampden To Murrayfield Is Vandalism
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in The Scotsman.
I’m not bothered, as I doubt, I’ll ever go to Scotland to watch an important Scottish football match, that would be played at their National Stadium.
But, I have been to Hampden Park before.
I was there fifty years ago, when Spurs and Celtic drew 3-3 in the Glasgow Cup. I also suspect that the 91,000 plus crowd was the largest, I’ve ever been part of.
And I was at Hampden to see the athletics in the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
I have no view on the historic aspects of the possible move, except that there might be an economic case.
And I also note, France, the Republic of Ireland and Wales all have a stadium, that is shared between football and rugby.
But then Germany and Italy don’t have a national stadium for football.
I can see another big argument between Edinburgh and Glasgow on this decision.
Other the last decade though, transport links between and to and from Scotland’s two major cities have changed.
- There have been extensions to the road network across Scotland.
- The rail lines are being electrified and new higher-capacity Class 385 trains are being delivered.
- Passenger numbers at both Glasgow and Edinburgh Airports have grown.
So at least getting to either stadium is becoming easier.
It will be a difficult decision to call.
New Zealand v Namibia At The Olympic Stadium
These pictures document my visit.
Compare the Olympic Stadium with Old Trafford of the previous night.
The final sporting effect of this stadium will be to propel West Ham up the League, as this is a stadium that would fill, if it was staging Leyton Orient against Accrington. Apologies to both teams and their fans, but spectators would go for the experience!
One of the stadium’s best features is getting to and from the venue.
Going, I went early and easily met my friend in Eastfield, which was uncrowded ninety minutes before the match.
My friend had taken one train from Suffolk ans we bought some snacks in Marks & Spencer. How many stadia are served by long-distance trains?
Coming back, I walked out the back of the stadium and took the DLR from Pudding Mill Lane station. I could even have walked the other way to cross the site on the Greenway to get a 30 bus direct to my door.
When Crossrail opens in 2019, the stadium and the Olympic Park will be at one of the best transport interchanges in the UK.
The Olympic stadium, its setting in an enormous park and its transport links, is in a totally different class.
The Anonymous Widower 