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‘Closing the Gap’ – The South West Peninsula strategic rail blueprint

‘Closing the Gap’ is the Peninsula Rail Task Force’s plan for investment into the South West Peninsula’s strategic rail network. The plan was officially launched to Government on 22 November.

The plan defines the Task Force’s ambition of a 21st  century rail network underpinned by three priorities: Resilience and reliability; Faster journey times; Improved connectivity with sufficient capacity.

After carrying out extensive research and study with the rail industry, ‘Closing the Gap’ sets out a long term cascade of improvements needed to close the growing gap between the South West and the rest of the UK in terms of rail funding and improvements. Investment is expected to deliver over £8.4 billion in economic benefits over the next 20 years.

Read ‘Closing the Gap’ – The South West Peninsula strategic rail blueprint  here. The task force has also produced an  appendix  to the report that list in more details outputs from the studies and has additional information to support the recommendations made within ‘Closing the gap’. Visit the website of the Peninsula Rail Task Force for more information: https://peninsularailtaskforce.co.uk/

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      David Ralph

      Chief Executive

      David Ralph started as Chief Executive of Heart of South West LEP at the beginning of June 2018. Previously, he had spent 5 years as CEO of the Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire (D2N2) LEP from 2013 where he oversaw the development of the D2N2 Strategic Economic Plan and sector strategies, 3 Growth Deals with HM Government to deliver a £1billion capital investment programme, securing and implementing £200m ESIF programme, the Derby and Nottingham Enterprise Zone, the D2N2 Skills Deal and Time for Innovation programme, community fund and led the executive team to develop the HS2 East Midlands hub. He was also closely involved in the proposed North Midlands Devolution Deal and one of the key architects in establishing the Midlands Engine, chairing the officer steering group. Whilst in this role David was a NED of the Nottingham Enterprise Zone, and Marketing NG, the Outer Estates Foundation and a Governor of Nottingham College and on the advisory Board of Nottingham Business School.

      Before the East Midlands, David was CEO of the Have Gateway Partnership working closely with local stakeholders including the ports of Felixstowe, Harwich and Ipswich and BT Adadastral Park across Suffolk and Essex and prior to that was Chief Exec of the Barton Hill New Deal for Communities programme in Bristol and the Nelm Development Trust in Norwich.

      David is a keen sailor, walker and trail runner.