General election: 'no point' increasing trains to Fylde towns if they are then cancelled

That was the assessment of one of the candidates hoping to be the constituency’s next MP after this week’s general election

Tom Calver, who is standing for Labour, was speaking at a hustings event during which some of the parliamentary hopefuls contesting the Fylde seat were asked whether they thought train services in Lytham and the wider patch needed improving – and each of them put the issue reliability at the heart of their pitch for votes on the subject.

 He bemoaned the staffing issues that he claimed had set had beset the railways since privatisation and said that while long-vaunted plans for what is known as a ‘passing loop’ on the South Fylde line – between Kirkham and Blackpool South – could double services, it would be of little benefit if they could not be counted upon to turn up.

>>> Click here to see the Fylde election debate in full.

Mr. Calver added that “public control” of rail franchises was vital in order to specify services and ensure they “integrate” with each other.

“[That would mean] you don’t have…a situation where you get on a long- distance train into Preston – and then discover that all the connections to Blackpool North and South have disappeared about five minutes previously.

“And when you’ve got a more reliable service, not just a faster one…then you can start to extend your horizons, because you can look at the jobs that are slightly further away, you can look at the days out that are slightly further away,” Mr. Calver added.

Conservative candidate Andrew Snowden said the South Fylde passing loop was “absolutely critical investment” in order to achieve half-hourly services for stations including Lytham, St. Annes-on-the-Sea and Blackpool Pleasure Beach – where the single track currently limits them to once an hour.

Fylde’s previous MP, Mark Menzies, acknowledged in a parliamentary debate last October that the loop plans appeared to have “stalled”.

Mr. Snowden added at the hustings debate that the focus should be on improving east-west connections at a regional level before worrying about saving “an extra 20 minutes” off journeys between Manchester and London.

“We all know that there are major employers moving to Central Lancashire, in particular the new cyber headquarters. It is absolutely critical [that] all people from Fylde – particularly young people…starting their careers – can access those highly-skilled jobs that are moving into Lancashire;  and a reliable rail network will be absolutely critical to that.

“The investment has to go into regional railways – it has to make it easier for people to go about their day to day lives in a reliable way,” Mr. Snowden said.

Independent candidate Anne Aitken said the national powers-that-be needed to understand that Fylde is “not a backwater”.

Telling the story of children from King Edward School whom she said had had to “wait for three hours” to go into Preston because all of the trains were cancelled, she added:

“We want good rail links – we need to be able to get out to Poulton, Weeton, Kirkham.  We need them regularly [and] we need them not to be cancelled.

“I haven’t got the answer to that and I don’t think anybody has because it’s been going on for 10 years.  But I just hope whoever gets in fights for a rail[way] that’s affordable, that’s clean and that’s regular – and that’s all I’m asking.”

Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat candidate Mark Jewell also alighted upon the theme of reliability  stating that there was “no point” in delivering new rail infrastructure “if you don’t have the capacity within the rail network to run [it] more reliably”.

“A part of the Liberal Democrats manifesto is to invest in our infrastructure, extending electrification, [and to] improve our stations and simplify ticketing. And it is that joined-up transport option that people can have – it is not just the cyber security [site in Samlesbury], we’ve got BAE Systems…[and Springfield] nuclear fuels as well.

“The North West is really a vibrant, attractive place for people to come to – and so we have to build those transport networks up,” Mr. Jewell said.

Three other candidates standing for election in Fylde were unable to attend the hustings – staged by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Blackpool Gazette, Lancashire Post, Lancashire Lead and Blog Preston – and sent their apologies – Cheryl Morrison (Alliance for Democracy and Freedom), Brenden Wilkinson (Green Party) and Brook Wimbury (Reform UK).