The East Lancashire CRP has been successful in bid for funding from the Designated Community Rail Development Fund. They have been awarded a sum of £3400 towards a project called ‘My Mill Hill’ centered on the station on the outskirts of Blackburn.

This innovative project started early in the New Year and will bring some much needed colour and ownership to one of the areas more neglected stations. Mill Hill station, on the outskirts of Blackburn, has long been a magnet for antisocial behaviour, graffiti and vandalism. Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council has worked with Northern Rail and the East Lancashire Line Community Rail Partnership to fund CCTV cameras at the station to make the station a safer environment for passengers. The ‘My Mill Hill’ project has been put together to try and bring the station back into the community through engagement with local schools, youth clubs and community groups. A local senior citizen group will also be engaged which gives the project a rounded balanced community involvement.

The Designated Community Rail Development Fund is sponsored by the Department of Transport, Network Rail and the Association of Community Rail Partnerships (ACoRP) and helps provide funding for development of community rail lines that have been designated as part of the Government’s Community Rail Strategy.