Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development

Hey, ancestral Devonian here with strong (but now too distant) Barumite links.

 

Think some are getting confused with a person who has say Cornish roots and ancestry, and someone who lives somewhere and so is a local.

I have Cornish ancestry, my family farmed the area from the Tamar down to Bodmin Moor, I have ancestors who worked South Crofty and on the Tamar quays, my father was born in Redruth, and I lived in Newlyn when younger and I literally have a grandparents in the graveyard in a village just north of Minions.

Despite that heritage I would not class my self as local unless I actually moved there and lived permanently in Cornwall.

In my view a local is someone who permanently lives in a location and is part of that community, the flux of that community changes over time as it always has done, people come and people go as they migrate from place to place.

Roots and ancestry is something else entirely.

I do know of folks who have very long Cornish ancestry and still live there, but many moved away after the collapse of the tin trade and went all over the world and more recently due to holiday second homes and Airbnb.

So, a local? In my view everyone who lives in North Devon, and I mean permanently, is a local, they are local to that area.

 

I agree with you on ancestry. My godmother, who lives deep in Cornwall near the North Cornwall line, is now a local - but by adoption, not birth. There is a qualifying period, which varies in length but is about fitting into the community.

 

Same here. My Cornish ancestry goes back at least to the 1400s, latterly around Truro and Malpas, but the same old story, grandparents went "down the line" in the 20s, really no option after demob. My blood may be in Cornwall, but heart is here in Sussex. Here I truly am a "local".
Wherever I lay my hat, and all that.

 

The agreed qualifying period as defined by the bards is three and a half generations. There must also be evidence of work in a tin mine or clay pit, quarry, fishing, farming, pasty making or at least three seasons taking money at a seaside car park.

 

In which case I'm not sure how she qualifies on any of those scores!

 

Everything can be leveraged if the price is right

 

I think being a good neighbour and part of a small hamlet community goes a long way - especially if kids go to primary school in the village

 

Undoubtedly so, because that is essentially putting down foundations in the community. Is it me, or are we getting a little bit abstract on this thread?

 

How long does it take a heritage railway to become a ‘local business’, rather than a group of ‘old men (who don’t live here) playing trains’?

 

There are easy things that would have helped. If the cricket pitch lane extension was made more friendly like making the local cricket team like the railway first a different number of things may have happened with that. Now the managers should be making Barnstaple like the railway for the next part of the plan ahead of announcing it

 

The Barnstaple and Yeo Valley Trust have a different set of Directors/Managers who are running that part of the project as opposed to the Woody Bay operation, which is run by the L&BR Trust.

Oops, I don't know what happened there. My messages and access just disappeared. What I was going to add is that the guys in the southern part of the project have made huge gains with the local population, and from what I have been told, the advantages of having a railway can be clearly seen.

 

Probably as long there is someone who doesn’t want the line reinstated. Hearts and minds is probably 50% of the job, the remaining 50%, reinstating the line, is the easier part

 

I would say as soon as it becomes a positive benefit for the local economy with increases in visitors booking accomodation, covers at restaurants, pubs and cafes, increase in local shop sales, using local supplies, etc.

 

First, it has to be a business. If revenue does not exceed operating cost+renewals, it is not a flourishing business. It is a hobby, a charity case.

 

Well - that disqualifies 99% of Heritage Railways then - as they are almost all registered charities. James

 

@ross The challenge then is to present that to local communities in a positive way since, I would argue, the largely charitable/voluntary nature of the heritage railway movement is one of its greatest achievements.

 

And charities don’t themselves have an impact on the local economy?

I think in some ways being seen as a charity helps, because it comes with some implicit, if amorphous, good will. But ultimately if what you are interested in is the impact on the local economy, then whether you are a “business” or a “charity”, it comes down to what is your impact. A charity that stocks the local beer in its pub is better in that regard than a business that stocks something produced in a chemical refinery on the outskirts of Slough …

Tom

 

Absolutely agree. That's often not the case in other countries.
Having a charitable aim can sometimes be useful when in a dispute, too. It is the legal duty of charity trustees to carry out the stated aims - which are usually variations on restoring a particular railway. And - each charity is governed by the charity commission - with that organisation having to approve said "aim" as being in the public interest (which all charitable activities have to comply with).
Therefore any opposition to that particular railway restoration is by definition "against the public interest". This is an argument I have used here before - but it always bears repeating.... James

 

It's an interesting argument, which implies that there can be no conflict between public interests.