Wellllll ... our bid for "Information at the Station" in Melksham was written and submitted within the timescale given, and we wait to hear the outcome.  My understanding is that applicants would be notified late March / early April 2026 of the outcome, and here we are in mid April 2026.

The fund is for new projects to be completed by 31st March (2027), and they must not be committed until the funding has been granted.   With some (sorry) frustration, we await the outcome.   My understanding is that there are once again far more (good) applications for funding than can be granted, so it's not just been a question of submitting a good, well thought out and justified project but rather of submitting a project that the judging panel evaluates as being better than others.

So we sit, somewhat, in limbo. We have continued negotiations with the potential landlord to ensure we have the building available.  We have submitted local match funding requests and started other funding source paths. We have as volunteers continued research both into how it will work, and the issues that need to be addressed both operationally and for the business to work for the intended customers. Yesterday evening, we held an informal discussion around the dining table here - MTUG officers and Melksham Without reps ... taking stock of where we are.   We have an idea of critical paths, GANTT chart, resource calls and when resources are needed, cash flows, etc. which are far forward from what we had at the start of January, and we have officially informed the CCIF team of a couple of elements which have addressed and mitigated to the extend of elimination what we admitted were our major risks in January.

We have NOT yet got together serious manning lists for the "Information at the Station" though.  There is too much risk of building up enthusiasm just for it to seep away in the intervening months.  And we have not committed past a "point of no return" as by doing so we would be taking an unnecessary risk, and contravening the terms of the application process that tell us we must wait.  As well as the GWR decision being awaited, we await a match funding decision from Melksham Town Council who postponed all grant applications in the town from March to June. 

The CCIF application process naturally brings uncertainty between submission and outcome time, and we have been proceeding in a way with identified probably and possible income sources with optimism factors applied in such a way that we can probably "go" even with drop outs.  With the two biggest fund providers taking longer than they suggested, it may well be that an autumn rather than a summer launch is appropriate, but that's no great problem and in fact has some advantages.

What IS proven - time and time again - is in talking with people at and around Melksham - often at the station itself - is the real need for public transport information and a friendly face to help people navigated that information - in Melksham.

 
https://www.gwr.com/about-gwr/what-you-can-expect/community/community-investment