Helston railway line study by CIC to bring people to town

The investigation work will be part of a wider study at how easy it is to reach Helston - and what improvements can be made to get more people visiting and boosting the town's economy.

The project is being led by Helston Community Interest Company, with one of the directors, David Turnbull, explaining more about it to Helston Town Council on Thursday.

He said: "One of the reasons for doing this is not purely to restore a railway to Helston but start to highlight connectivity issues Helston has - and we need improved connectivity to Helston if we are to prosper as a town. This is part of that process."

Mr Turnbull said it was important to remember from the outset that this was still an incredibly early stage of the process, adding: "Right from the start we have got to say this is an incredibly long term aspiration - this is not something that is going to happen quickly."

Helston CIC put in an expression of interest to the government's Restoring Railways Fund, set up to help restore old railway lines, back in February and was successful.

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It now has a chance to bid for money from the fund, but must first put together a full feasibility proposal to submit, showing what is possible, how much it could cost and what needs to be done for the next stage.

To do this the CIC will need to employ two professionals in this area of expertise, with quotes coming back at £8,050 to compile the study.

Mr Turnbull said: "A proper network railway link to Helston is a really long term 'moonshot'. However, in highlighting the connectivity issues Helston has we believe there's a real opportunity to develop a route somewhere back to the coast."

"Other possible connections could be some form of light rail system, possibly an electric rail system that would run up towards the Redruth-Camborne area."

At the same time, Helston CIC has prepared a bid for the High Street Vitality Fund distributed by Cornwall Council, from which there is up to £150,000 potentially available for projects in the town.

However, the town will not know if it is successful in this bid until the end of October - and work for the railways fund needs to start sooner.

Mr Turnbull said that through "quite a bit of negotiation," Cornwall Council had agreed to advance Helston CIC £10,000 from the Vitality Fund, to cover the cost of hiring the two professionals to put together the bid to the Railways Fund.

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The CIC was therefore asking Helston Town Council to hold onto the cash on its behalf, as it was VAT registered.

Councillor Miles Kenchington questioned what would happen if the CIC was ultimately unsuccessful in its bid to the Vitality Fund.

Mr Turnbull said he believed it was "extremely likely we will get a substantial chunk of money," he acknowledged there was an "infinitesimal risk" that it would get no money at all and that the town council would have to underwrite any money paid out.

Mr Kenchington then said parish councils in the surrounding area had already pledged £2,000, which would bring the risk down to £6,050 as worst case scenario.

Councillors Ron Edgcumbe and Ronnie Williams voted against supporting a proposal that the town council manage the portion of grant money if it became available, or pay the £6,050 from precept if not, but it was carried on a majority vote.

Mr Edgcumbe declared it "a nonsense to me that we're involved at all."

Councillor Brendan Thomas was not at the meeting and would not have been able to vote anyway, as finance director of the CIC.

However, he said in a supplied statement: "This is the first step for making a Helston railway line for the first time in 60 years; we cannot let this opportunity pass us by."

It is a separate project to one also being carried out by Helston Railway Company, although Mr Turnbull said the group was "100 per cent behind this."