Kidderminster Worcestershire England United Kingdom - Tourist businesses battered by severe flooding were today thrown a £1.5 million lifeline by Advantage West Midlands (AWM).
 
Most of the money will be targeted at fully re-opening the Severn Valley Railway, one of the key visitor gateways to rural Shropshire and Worcestershire.
 
AWM estimates that the floods cost tourism in the region about £20 million.
 
Currently the railway is only operating a seven mile round trip between Kidderminster and Bewdley, as opposed to the 32-mile round trip between Kidderminster and Bridgnorth, meaning guest houses and bed & breakfasts are being starved of tourist income.
 
The SVR launched an appeal fund for the estimated £1.5 million needed to repair parts of the track washed away by floods on 19 Jun 2007, when two weeks rain fell in 30 minutes, causing landslides in 45 separate locations.
 
By last Friday the fund had raised £69,000.
 
AWM is spending £1 million on restoring the battered railway and providing £250,000 towards The Engine House visitor and education facility at Highley to increase visitor numbers to the railway.
 
The final £250,000 will go on a national publicity campaign to tell the country that the rural West Midlands is back open for business.
 
"We want to salvage what is left of the summer for businesses," said Matt Danks of the development agency.
 
"The Severn Valley Railway got clobbered by the floods in the West Midlands. As opposed to Yorkshire and other parts of the country the main area which has been hit is tourism, as opposed to houses."
 
"The SVR acts as a carrier along Shropshire and Worcestershire, and taking it out of action means we've got a lot of people hit by problems."
 
"A quarter of a million people use the railway every year, it is the gateway to the rural part of the West Midlands, and guest houses and B&Bs are suffering."
 
It is hoped that the stretch from Bewdley to Arley will be opened by the end of this month and the line between Bridgnorth and Hampton Lode by the end of August.
 
Gary Marks.