• Home
• News
• Manifesto
• Support
• Links

• 
  Download our Manifesto as a PDF [150K]

Transport for Bristol -

PLEASE SUPPORT THE WEST OF ENGLAND PARTNERSHIP'S RAIL BIDS BY SENDING ONE EMAIL

Please send a single email copied to all the councillors (below) of the South West Regional Assembly Executive in support of the inclusion of three rail bids in the Regional Funding Allocation (RFA2) process.

Please send the email as soon as possible and send a copy of any replies to: pip_sheard@hotmail.co.uk or smiler@rob-dixon.co.uk

The three bids are:
Portishead to Bristol Temple Meads reopening, Greater Bristol Metro project (improvements on the line from Yate to Weston) ( two West of England schemes)and Swindon to Kemble track redualling (a Wiltshire scheme).
More details on all three schemes are below. Lots more detail about the Portishead, GBM schemes and other rail plans are available from the West of England Partnership website here

Why we need your help
The West of England (4 Avon councils) have only two reps on the Regional Assembly's Executive so it is necessary for councillors from other authorities to support our schemes for them to go ahead. The current shortlist, which includes the rail schemes, costs 40% more than the allocated budget so some schemes will be rejected. West of England has submitted a list of 6 schemes so not all of them might be funded and we want to make it clear that the public supports rail above other more expensive road based schemes such as the M5 junction and Westbury bypasses. More information about the six West of England schemes can be found at westofengland.org

FOSBR and TfGB made verbal submissions to the Regional Assembly Transport Board's meeting last Thursday and we've had media coverage in the Evening Post and the Western Daily Press. More letters to them (particularly WDP) in support of the rail bids would be a great help. The email addresses are epletters@bepp.co.uk and wdletters@bepp.co.uk.

The final decision is expected at the Assembly's Executive on 13th Feb and the Leaders will also meet to discuss the bids. These meetings are not open to the public so we are asking our supporters to send one very polite (!) email to ALL the councillors below saying how important the public and local groups consider the rail bids are and that they want them to be on the final list for funding.

Points you could make

• This is the very first time, the Government has allowed local rail schemes to be funded via the Regional allocation process. This is due to strong lobbying by rail groups.


• Greater Bristol has an underdeveloped rail network and this fund is the only avenue open to fund local rail improvements which would be too costly for local councils to do otherwise.


• West of England Partnership officers have thoroughly prepared the schemes by liaison with Network rail and FGW so the schemes are achievable and the money can be spent. Achievability is a strong critieria for putting a scheme forward, because in the past the region underspent because schemes turned out to be unrealistic.


• In relation to Portishead, North Somerset council own the land for the track and have appointed an officer to take the scheme forward. Halcrow have carried out a feasibility study and Network Rail have been involved in the preparation of the costs.


• The GMB project has involved liasion with FGW and Network Rail and is in conjunction with FGW's successful bid for more train carriages. Rail represents good value for money. The 2 WEP rail schemes are the cheapest of all six schemes put forward.


• The rail schemes will have a positive impact on the region. The Greater Bristol Metro scheme will provide increased services for the whole Bristol and Bath travel to work area, including routes to Trowbridge and Westbury, Taunton and Weston-Super-Mare, Cheltenham and Gloucester. Regional services cannot be improved without dealing with bottlenecks in the Bristol and Bath area.


• The rail schemes are the most popular schemes in the bid. 1,200 people sent in postcards to the WEP in support of Portishead reopening. MPS, the business community and the Government of the South West have all been lobbying Government for better local rail.


• Rail and more track (on which tram trains might run in the future) are a vital part of a sustainable public transport system for Greater Bristol and should be integrated within an ITA with the local bus service.


• Portishead running through Temple Meads and then out again on the Severn Beach line could be an essential part of a cross city half hourly service network which could link in with other half hourly services on the Yate to Weston line.

Information about the schemes

• Portishead Rail scheme involves 3.2 miles of new track between Portbury docks and Portishead and three stations. The area suffers from bad traffic congestion since there is only one route out of the town. Cost 28 million.
  
  
• Greater Bristol Metro will cost £20 million and involves a new platform at Weston, extra track Weston to Worle, a turnback at Yate, new trains. In comparison the A380 South Devon Link Road is estimated to cost £110 million, Wiltshire's bypasses £60 million and Bristol's Callington Road Link £69 million.



• Swindon to Kemble double-tracking will allow an increased number of services to run through the Cotswolds and provide an alternative route to Wales when the Severn tunnel is closed. It will allow Swindon Council to build a new station in the north-west of the borough in the future.

These are email addresses of the Cabinet Members for Transport in the major authorities:

fleurderhephilipe@wiltshire.gov.uk, hrprior-sankey@somerset.gov.uk, julie.girling@gloucestershire.gov.uk, margaret.rogers@devon.gov.uk, mmctaggart@cornwall.gov.uk, i.a.campbell@dorsetcc.gov.uk, charles_gerrish@bathnes.gov.uk, mark.bradshaw@bristol.gov.uk, elfan.ap.rees@n-somerset.gov.uk, brian.allinson@southglos.gov.uk

These are email addresses of the members of the South-West Regional Assembly Executive:

dansari@cornwall.gov.uk, bellotti@cix.co.uk, Alan.Connett@teignbridge.gov.uk, john.cordwell@gloucestershire.gov.uk, humphrey.temperley@devon.gov.uk, i.a.campbell@dorsetcc.gov.uk, mbawden@swindon.gov.uk, simon.day@devon.gov.uk, julianjohnson@wiltshire.gov.uk, r.parker@poole.gov.uk, rcwolverson@somerset.gov.uk, graham.facks-martin@ncdc.gov.uk, saxon.spence@devon.gov.uk, helen.holland@bristol.gov.uk, kjross@westsomerset.gov.uk

We have put a comma between the email addresses so all you need to do is cut and paste the addresses into your list of recipients.
THANKS VERY MUCH!

Supporters at Prince St bridge 8th October 2008

Oppose Bus Rapid Transit/Support an ultra light rail tram

You can hear our case for the tram in our video on the Evening Post website. The deadline for the Rapid Transit consultation is 1st Dec. If you wish to respond to the consultation go to www.westofengland.org/transport or write to West of England, Rapid Transit, Freepost BS6529, Bristol BS1 5BR.

Our criticisms and comments on points raised in the consultation leaflet are in this document. We continue to assert that an ultra light rail tram could be constructed for the current Rapid Transit budget of 35 million pounds and it would be more popular with the public. We consider that the estimate given by the consultants of 20 million pounds for the Bus system is too low bearing in mind how much bridge and other work accompanies the two way running of the bus. For further details contact Pip Sheard on pip_sheard@hotmail.co.uk

We have set up an e-petition on Bristol City Council's website. You can sign it by going to http://epetitions.bristol.gov.uk/petition.php?id=219

We will continue to lobby for a tram rather than a bus based Rapid Transit. To view a Powerpoint presentation of the current ULR proposal click here (2.5MB).

On 28th Sept, the West of England Partnership announced that their consultants had recommended that the first section of the Rapid Transit system for Bristol should be bus based - it will be an 18 metre bendy bus which will run two ways through the centre to Cabot Circus and Temple meads but also along the Cut leaving the cyclepath alone but cutting into Cumberland road, continuing over the Ashton bridge near the Create Centre and running to the Ashton Vale Park and Ride site. A future route will run North Bristol to Hengrove. This is a high capacity system which will serve and therefore bring forward planning permission for the urban extension of 9,500 homes between Dundry and Long Ashton to which we are opposed. On Monday 20th October, the West of England partnership's Joint Transport Committee supported the consultants' recommendation and agreed to take the Bus Rapid Transit forward as the only option to public consultation in the city in November.

On 3rd October, the public consultation on the construction of the South Bristol Ring Road was announced in the EP. If built it will cut the communities of Hartcliffe, Highridge and Bishopsworth in half and introduce traffic pollution and congestion to thousands of homes that don't have it now. The current Ring Road is full and all that traffic is waiting to make its way through South Bristol. It will also enable WEP to say that they have 'planned transport' for the all the urban extensions to South Bristol in North Somerset and Banes. We have been told that the Road could be Bus Rapid Transit instead but we believe that the public might like a tram system instead.

Our group has proposed that the money allocated for the first phase of RT and the Road should be spent on an ultra light rail tram system instead and we brought a consortium of engineers prepared to build the first phase to Bristol to meet politicians and officers. The project was reviewed by private consultants and rejected on 28th on grounds of cost and deliverability, both of which we dispute.

Transport for Greater Bristol

A step change in powers and investment is required to meet Bristol’s transport needs and the challenges of congestion, climate change, quality of life and air quality, building on good practice from around the country.

In November 2006, the Transport for Greater Bristol Alliance and our Manifesto was launched in the local media.

The Manifesto introduces a practical, balanced, yet bold approach to start transforming transport in the city, providing genuine alternatives to the car as we move to a low carbon economy. As a result we are calling for :

• The creation of a Greater Bristol Transport Authority.
• Increased funding for transport in the city.

In May 2007, the Alliance lobbied all candidates in the Bristol Council elections and on July 24th, Bristol City Councillors voted unanimously for the creation of a Strategic Transport Authority.

For years we have been tinkering about and we believe that a bold new approach is needed. The current Joint Local Transport Plan and its better bus routes will only take up the extra demand for travel over the next few years.

The Local Transport Bill currently going through Parliament allows new ITAs to be created where they do not currently exist and provisions for ITAs to adopt a Quality Contract to exert greater control over their local bus network. Such powers are long overdue in Greater Bristol.

A Transport Authority for Greater Bristol would put transport at the top of its agenda and not balance it against Social Services, Education or council tax bills. The people in charge of transport need proper powers, as well as the bottle and vision to deliver real improvements.

The Alliance believes that the extra money for improvements would come from the £40m allocated for a south Bristol ring road, road user charging and other sources shown in the Manifesto.