A sigh and two cheers for the latest reorganisation of the railways aimed at better decision-making. A sigh, because we were just getting used to the position of the goal posts, and have the first 'ball in the net' (the decision to support the Stourbridge Project).

Two cheers: Hurrah No.1: The decision to bring under single governance at both national and regional level, the choice between the various options for how journeys should best be effected. Why have an unending fight between for instance the 'Railways for ever', 'I Love My Car' and 'Don't Forget the Humble Bus' factions now joined by the 'it's Quicker and Cheaper to Fly' and 'Bring Back the Trams' lobbies. What matters is convenience, affordability, quality and environmental responsibility seen from the standpoint of people making journeys and through whose communities the journeys pass.

H.G. Wells would have been amazed - or maybe he wouldn't - to learn that in 2004 Network Rail was installing more and more cycle racks at stations and that the percentage growth of tram patronage was exceeding that of any other public transport mode. In a situation of continued and sometimes unexpected change therefore, how on earth can we have made the procedure for planning to install a simple engineering device - the steel flanged wheel rolling on a rail - into one which takes so long and costs so much that people are tempted not to bother? Rail is just another means of undertaking a journey and it is logical that DfT make installing it or using it as easy as for any other form of transport.

Hurrah No.2: It also seems very sensible, having already established a Regulation Office, the ORR, that the process by which safety is regulated should also come within its remit rather than in a body also dealing with Health and Safety in factories, nuclear power stations and circuses etc. Letting safety matters be administered by a body which is equally motivated to keep trains and trams running while also making them safe, is more pragmatic than by one with having a single preoccupation of 'Safety at all Costs'.

Meanwhile it has always been a puzzle to us that those who seem to love railways the most are sometimes least interested in their role as a provider of routine transport. There is a double paradox in one of the recurring mindsets in the heritage railway sector. In the name of 'preservation' the railway companies and societies have taken possession of valuable transport corridors but instead of exploiting this facility, have decided just to give their visitors a 'grand day out'.

Should not these lines have a role to play in the Community Railways programme, revitalising branch lines which escaped the Beeching axe of the 1960s? 'Grand days out' on the railways at weekends and holidays are valuable components of the Leisure Industry, but why resist the same corridors being used for passengers travelling with a purpose?

Local Authorities generally smile upon the enthusiast-run railways in their areas but at the same time have to wrestle with the problem of dangerously overcrowded and polluted roads. If, as will now happen according to the White Paper, they are to take a hand in the running of local branches of the national network, they might also take a look at the 'sleeping beauty' situations, rail lines which lie idle when the local roads are most crowded.

Meanwhile there are already some notable pioneers among the private and volunteer-run railways beginning to make their railways not only decorative but useful.

Let's hope this idea becomes infectious.

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SMALL ENTERPRISE ROLE RECOGNISED

Commonwealth study identifies livelihods gain from Building Materials initiative in Sierra Leone

In the period 1998 -2002, JPA was commissioned by the Commonwealth Secretariat to provide a combination of technical services and small scale equipment to address the "acute shelter problem and mass unemployment" that existed in Sierra Leone caused by the recent rebel war.

In an internal study produced for No 10 Downing Street during April 2004, (prior to the setting up of the new Commission for Africa) the Commonwealth Secretariat appraised the outcome of the work which is believed so far to have resulted in the employment of 30,000 persons in small businesses .

Full story: Development of Affordable Housing Construction Industry

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MALAWI SCHOOL PROGRAMME SHOWCASES HIGH QUALITY LOCAL PRODUCTION

Having received several consignments of equipment from JPA during 2003 and 2004, production of micro concrete semi sheets is in progress at centres throughout Malawi. Mr Andrew Maclean, the Director of the Education Building Programme, has sent us a photograph showing construction at Phululu school near Malomo in Ntchisi District. In June 2004, a new £62,000 order for ten complete factories was placed via an international procurement firm for early despatch to the same region, again for school construction.

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DEVELOPMENT OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

A Commonwealth Secretariat-sponsored programme, undertaken by JPA during the closing phases of the rebel war in Sierra Leone between 1998 and 2001, was fully reported in previous issues of Parry News. ComSec's projects in Sierra Leone were appraised earlier this year on the instruction of His Excellency Don McKinnon, the Commonwealth's Secretary General, and forwarded to the UK Prime Minister's development advisers at No 10. The section of the report on the Affordable Housing programme which involves Parry equipment and services is narrated in full below : -

"The project is aimed at transferring building technology suitable for mass affordable housing in Sierra Leone and demonstrating techniques for the production of bricks, stabilised soil blocks, roofing, floor and wall tiles, and other building products.

It seeks to address the acute shelter problem caused by mass displacement of people and destruction of property occasioned by the rebel war. The project involves technology transfer, skills training; and entrepreneurship development programmes.

The project has two distinct phases. Phase 1 covered the Western area of Sierra Leone and was implemented by six indigenous enterprises. Based on the lessons around Freetown , the government is now implementing Phase 2 in the Northern, Eastern and Southern provinces at chiefdom and district levels by installing facilities and establishing clusters of small building manufacturing technology units. The Phase 2 programme is centred on the community participatory role. The target audiences for the training were ex combatants, unemployed youth and women. This has created new business and economic opportunities, generated a competitive local supply base and employed over 30,000 persons in small businesses".

The P.M's advisers are understood to have passed the Sierra Leone report to the Secretariat of the new Commission for Africa which is assembling case histories relevant to the theme of livelihood creation in poorer parts of Africa.

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NEW CLINICS FOR CAMEROON

A recent order received by JPA came from a distinguished doctor, originally born in Cameroon , who has worked for many years in Italy 's health service. Dr Etabong J Esua has, over recent years, been helping people in his home country by constructing clinics and providing technical advice. He has now ordered a set of Parry roofing and wall building machinery to increase the local content of his construction projects. The picture shows workers commencing construction at one of the new clinics.

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INTERMEDIATE BUILDING TECHNOLOGY FOR THE NIGER DELTA Parry technology proposed in plan to boost economy and employment in Nigeria's riverine areas

JPA's building materials expertise is being put forward in a plan to establish small scale industries throughout the Niger Delta in Nigeria . The area, now suffering from underdevelopment, is an excellent example of where intermediate technology can bring in the benefits that "classic" development projects have failed to deliver. We were visited by Chief John Wright and President Ayaoge on 23 June; they explained the background to the project and gave confident expectations of an early start.

The Niger Delta is made up of largely pastoral areas between the myriad natural waterways that bring the Niger River into the Atlantic Ocean. The discovery of oil and the development of the petroleum industry has not, however, brought material advances to the majority of the local population. Today, people are migrating away from the region towards Nigeria 's large cities to find work and a better life, and those left behind are finding that the local economy is steadily worsening.

The Federation of Ijaw Communities (FEDICOM) has now proposed a plan for intermediate technology training in the Niger Delta as a way of combating these problems, using JPA building materials technology as the means to do it.

Work for unemployed youths

The plan is aimed at tackling under-employment in the region, where it recognises that "the prime requirement . is the provision of work". In particular, it takes account of the problems of unemployment among the local youth population: people who could be the most productive members of society but who, in the wrong circumstances, can also be its most destructive.

The main plank behind the proposals is the installation of intermediate technology workshops in decentralised, village locations - avoiding the need for people to move to the cities to work and generating wealth for the existing communities. Local conditions mean that the workshops will be built near the riverside, so each workshop has a jetty for shipping of the finished products.

All round benefits for Delta communities

The programme is intended to turn round the declining rural areas of the Niger Delta. By introducing intermediate technology workshops that don't require expensive maintenance, foreign spare parts or rare skilled labour, the income and livelihoods created by the plan will reverse the existing exodus of people, skills and wealth from the Delta region.

The FEDICOM plan recognises and responds to the realities of the situation in the area, rather than trying to impose inappropriate solutions imported from elsewhere. Apart from the benefits of using local workshops, the proposals also include the use of local transport by river and the involvement of the local clan hierarchies in the villages.

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JPA DESIGNERS DEVISE UPPER FLOOR REFUGE A New Type of Balcony

The statistics are worrying. For every person killed on the railways, ten lose their lives in house fires, often trapped on upper floors, as fire usually starts in kitchens and living rooms. Many more are injured with shattered ankles and broken backs caused by jumping out of upstairs windows. Add to this the terror experienced by householders, particularly the elderly, when they become aware of intruders downstairs in the night hours. While the bold and the fit may decide to have-a-go, it is generally more prudent to leave it to those best equipped to deal with conflagrations and burglars - but how to get away? The Parry solution is a free standing, quick to install external platform - some would call it a 'balcony' - equipped with the means to secure the exit so that the wrongdoers, fire or smoke stay within the envelope of the building. Descent from the refuge platform can be effected safely once help is in hand.

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