Bid to the Regional Assembly
Date: October 2008Our attempt to influence RFA2
Until the shires over rode the rules, we seemed to be making an impact
This campaign was formally launched on 30th October
At an interim count of the postcards three weeks later, 725 members of the public had already taken the time to sign a card, spend the money to buy a stamp and even remembered to visit the pillar box. (Today I gather this has passed 800, passed 900 and still coming in.
The unusual thing is that these people were not fighting for their jobs, not on NIMBY terms resisting some ghastly proposal, from Whitehall.. Their jobs and domestic tranquillity were under no immediate threat but they still licked the stamp because they recognised the obvious and saw it was potentially good.
They were all supporting a positive scheme, a scheme to make the fullest use of Greater Bristol’s transport infrastructure, to protect the environment, promote the economy, break the dominance of the car and make life easier and pleasanter for thousands of other citizens. As congestion in Bristol, plainly, geographically, strangles the peninsular economy; decongesting Bristol must benefit the whole region
What is more, no one, absolutely no one, has objected to this scheme. And you can’t say that about any of the jaded old world road schemes that have been dragged out from the fluff behind the departmental filing cabinets in the shires.
This positive approach is also a challenge to the administrative talent, the political skill in this room. Here is a Keynesian opportunity: economic stimulation at low environmental cost. A cheap boost that will deliver real long term benefits.
Show that you can too can take an initiative, that you will not just accept Central Government’s philosophy “Cheapest is best” and “if it’s not best it’s good enough for the West Country where the Dozy Yokels will put up with anything”
We’ve made our point clear. Now, you take it forward. For the South West, Demand a decent service. Demand a decent environment. Demand a thriving economy
Go on: Make your electorate proud
Dear Mr White -
I am writing to respond on behalf of Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways to your statement of 21st November about the FOSBR postcard campaign.
We are pleased that the West of England Partnership state that they "recognise the significant role the sub-regional rail network has to play in reducing congestion". We congratulate the partnership and the four councils for showing belief in rail by promoting the Bristol Metro of cross-city services and infrastructure such as the Weston-Super-Mare and Bristol Parkway platform. These will support employment and housing growth around the region, just as the reopening of the Henbury line would do for the area around Airbus at Filton. We also commend Bristol City Council for showing faith in the Severn Beach line by providing a subsidy to allow an increased service which, as you rightly point out, has produced a significant increase (27%) in passenger numbers since May.
You state that "the four councils of the West of England Partnership are committed to working together to promote improved public transport, including rail services, across the city region". In view of the recent controversy about South Gloucestershire council allowing the sale of Henbury station without consulting other councils, we would beg to differ. This is the latest in a series of actions that do not demonstrate a willingness on the part of the councils to work together effectively.
You argue that the Partnership has been successful in attracting investment, however compared to the core cities with whom Bristol is compared, investment in public transport is pitiful. Other cities spend a higher proportion of their budgets on transport and attract government investment without having to go through regional funding bid processes. The West of England authorities have not succeeded in the vital task of persuading the government of the importance of increasing the number of tracks between Bristol Temple Meads and Bristol Parkway which has consistently prevented improvements to service levels.
Similarly, the South West Regional Development Agency recently reported that the South-west region will only be allocated eight new carraiges out of the 1300 to be introduced nationwide. You mention First Great Western's proposed bid for 44 new carraiges, but this is a bid and not agreed. In fact, the area will soon be losing the temporary rolling stock which was agreed by the government following the local protests about overcrowding last year. This is hardly a success.
We believe that increased passenger numbers show that the demand is there for increased services on new local branch routes, not only on well-established ones between major towns and cities. Whilst passenger numbers at Greater Bristol stations have indeed doubled (from 1994/5 to 2004/5), there have been further impressive rises since. You quote the passenger figures for 2006/7 which show increases such as 25% at Patchway, 10.4% at Worle, 10.3% at Avonmouth and 34% at Parson Street. In fact when figures for the two years of 2004/5 to 2006/7 are examined they show very impressive increases of (for example) 91% at Patchway, 26% at Worle, 41.5% at Avonmouth and 165% at Parson Street. The greatest increases in passenger numbers have occured at local and suburban rather than major stations. You state that a study in 2003 found that there was no economic case for reopening the line from Avonmouth to Bristol Parkway via Henbury. Even if that was the case then, which we dispute, increases in passenger numbers since, together with increased road congestion and housing development at Filton have changed the situation greatly.
To reiterate, we are pleased to hear the positive news that the Partnership has submitted the Portishead rail line and the Greater Bristol Metro schemes for consideration within the RFA bid, but we believe these are wholly insufficient. The demand for services is such that the local and regional rail network needs considerable investment in infrastructure and rolling stock. Besides improvements to the mainline from Bristol Temple Meads to Bristol Parkway and more rolling stock, this should include the reopening of the Portishead rail line and Avonmouth to Bristol Parkway via Henbury. Besides the RFA bid it is essential that the four councils commit to joint working that is more effective than it has been previously. This must include pressure on our members of parliament and the government. Without a concerted and coordinated effort it will be difficult to achieve the investment that the area needs.
Yours sincerely, Rob Dixon
On behalf of FOSBR Campaign Committee
4 Upper Belmont Road, Bishopston BS7 9DQ
0781 32 70 704
Portishead and North Bristol Rail Campaign
South West Regional Assembly members are bidding for government funded transport projects. The bid must be submitted by the end of February 2009.
We want our local politicians to include the re-opening of the Portishead and Henbury loop freight lines to passengers. This will extend local rail in the Bristol area, increase demand, reduce road congestion and deliver economic, social, and environmental benefits to the city and region as a whole. We will be campaigning until the bid is submitted.
The cost
An estimated budget of £20 million could achieve this. The cost of bringing local rail to a large area of Bristol and North Somerset is small compared to the cost of road building.
The Case
· Congestion costs Bristol over £1million a week: trains don’t get held up in the traffic!
· Road accidents cost Bristol over £140 million in 2006.
· Local rail is rapid transport: Abbey Wood to Temple Meads in 8 minutes; Parson Street to Stapleton Road in 12 minutes.
· This would connect the north and south of the City and provide alternative transport to Rolls Royce, Royal Mail and Airbus at Filton.
· Passenger numbers in Greater Bristol doubled from 1995 to 2005. Since the introduction of a more frequent service on the Severn Beach line in May they have gone up by another 27%!
How you can help
· Send the campaign postcard to the West of England Partnership.
· Tell other people! Give them postcards or email them a link to www.fosbr.org.ukCard.jpg where there’s a copy of the postcard.
· Make your view heard: contact your councillor and the Evening Post.
FOSBR c/o 29 Brighton Road, Redland, Bristol, BS6 6NU: Email painsmore@hotmail.com
Telephone: 0117 973 9855, Mobile: 07785 367123: Website www.fosbr.org.uk
Supported by Portishead Railway Group, Railfuture Severnside; Transport for Greater Bristol Alliance January 2009
FRIENDS OF SUBURBAN BRISTOL RAILWAYS
17 Belmont Road
Bristol
BS6 5AW
severnbeach@hotmail.co.uk www.fosbr.org.uk 26 October 2008
0117 942 8637 / 07791 867 51
Portishead and Northern Bristol Rail Campaign.
FOSBR will launch the Portishead and Northern Bristol Rail Campaign at Temple Meads Station on Thursday 30 October. Supporters will be holding maps of the rail network and a large postcard addressed to West of England Partnership. The event will start at 11 am on Platform 1 and last about 15 minutes.
The aim is ensure that our local politicians include funding to open the Portishead and Henbury loop freight lines to passengers in the current round of spending. This will extend local rail in the Bristol area, increase demand, reduce road congestion and deliver economic social and environmental benefits to the city and region as a whole.
Rob Dixon, a Bristol transport campaigner, says
"We have chosen Thursday since we also want to take up the opportunity to “Meet the Manager” at Temple Meads and congratulate First Great Western and Bristol City Council for the 27% increase in passengers on the Severn Beach Line since May resulting from the more frequent and more reliable service.
We want our councillors to show that they really want to do something about congestion and pollution and that they understand that buses aren't the only method of public transport. In other areas of the country councils have successfully invested in railways, to the benefit of local people who use them in great and increasing numbers. We would like our councils to show the same support for rail that they have in Leeds or Birmingham, rather than just think about cars and buses. "
FOSBR have printed 3000 bright yellow post cards and 3000 explanatory leaflets using the successful strategy of the Half Hour Train Campaign in 2006 is….. We will deliver them in bulk to sympathetic workplaces, shops and community centres near the line.
On Friday 21 November FOSBR will ask the Western Of England Parthership to respond to our request and then we will take it forward to the South West Regional Transport Forum which meets outside Taunton on Thursday 27 November.
Julie Boston Friends Of Suburban Bristol Railways
Dear Councillor Bradshaw -
I am writing as a local rail user and member of FOSBR to express my concern about the lack of plans for future investment in local rail at a regional level and to ask that you and your colleagues on the SWRA Transport Board include rail projects as priorities in the next round of Regional Funding Allocation. I hope you will be able to discuss this at the meeting on Thursday. I understand that South West MPs are meeting next month to discuss rail priorities and I hope that you will also impress upon them the importance of funding rail in the region, since we have suffered from chronic under-investment for too long.
I am concerned that the previous RFA was dominated by road transport schemes like the Bristol Ring road and Westbury bypass, with no mention of rail investment and not much public transport. There is much that needs to be done in our area. There is insufficient track and poor quality signalling, including that on the mainline between Bristol Temple Meads and Bristol Parkway (which is only double-tracked). This restricts the availability of train paths, makes service timings irregular and often causes services to run late. As well as raising this issue, we would like to ask that there be discussion of the Portishead line and Avonmouth to Bristol Parkway via Henbury being reopened to passenger services with a view to funding being sought. Since the government have already refused investment in the Portishead line, the regional funding allocation is the only way forward and without it we believe that the vital investment in local rail will not happen. Both of these schemes are mentioned in the Joint Local Transport Plan.
Since rail projects can now be promoted and funded via the RFA this is the opportunity for local decision-makers such as yourself show that you are serious about a multi-modal transport system that includes rail by including it as a priority by supporting funding from a budget over which you have control, rather than leaving it to the government.
Therefore would you please stress the importance of rail investment - and that you and your colleagues actually have the power to do something positive to make improvements in rail provision for the benefit of the whole region.
The arguments - as I'm sure you are aware - are that Bristol has a network of railway lines that are either not used for passengers or under-used. There is great potential for rail in the area. Traffic congestion from Portishead to Bristol cannot be resolved by road-based solutions and the reinstatement of the railway would reduce traffic levels (both around Portishead and into Bristol) and CO2 emissions. Congestion is estimated to cost our local economy £350 million per annum. Investment is essential in view of Portishead's ever-increasing population (four-fold increase since 1960). There is widespread local support for the Portishead line and we suspect that, like the reopened railway to Ebbw Vale, passenger levels would have been consistently under-estimated. Ebbw Vale has twice as many passengers as expected in the first six months (44,000 against 22,000). Passenger numbers have increased in the Greater Bristol area by 19.4% since 2004 and between 1995-6 and 2005-6 passengers to or from stations in South Gloucestershire increased 132%, to or from the City of Bristol by 96%. The demand is there.
These rail links would provide a cross-city service from Portishead to Avonmouth and Severn Beach, a transport alternative for residents not well-served by public transport, and enable much better rail connections between different parts of the city (e.g. Avonmouth or Clifton to Bristol Parkway) and enable passengers to travel to Parkway without trains having to run on the busy mainline. I am pleased to hear that the increased funding from Bristol City Council to provide an improved service on the line to Severn Beach seems to have been a success so far with significantly increased passenger numbers. I hope that you and your colleagues will do something positive to facilitate further improvements.
Yours - Rob Dixon
4 Upper Belmont Road, Bishopston, Bristol
The challenge for mass transport in the South West
Government has asked the South West Regional Assembly and the South West Regional Development Agency for their regional transport priorities by the end of February. Transport needs to be coordinated with housing, economic development and jobs.
The case
Transport campaigners call on local decision makers to include a cross-Bristol passenger service in their funding bid. This would run from Portishead, join with the Severn Beach line, and run to Bristol Parkway via Henbury and Filton. Restoring Portishead and the Henbury loop freight lines for passengers is in the Local Transport Plan.
Much of the engineering work has already been carried out. All that’s needed is the re-signalling of Portishead and Henbury freight lines and relaying the 3 miles to Portishead and extra trains to operate these services. Bristol City Council underwrote the cost of an extra train to improve the service frequency between Bristol Temple Meads and Avonmouth Station for three years. This has resulted in 27% more passengers since May 2008, in addition to passenger numbers more than doubling in the ten years from 1995 to 2005. The demand is there.
The cost
Upgrading the Portishead line is estimated to cost £8 - £15 million for 3 miles. Although the region has been happy to spend large amounts on roads, such as £28 million for a 3-mile road underneath the Westbury white horse, they have been reluctant to spend money on public transport.
How you can help:
- Contact your councillor.
- Contact your MP
There is a meeting of local MPs in October chaired by Alison Seabeck MP, South West Rail Champion.
Contact your councillor and MP, make an appointment to visit their surgery or organise a campaign. You can find their details at www.writetothem.com.
- Contact one of the Councillors on the West of England Transport Executive:
Charles Gerrish Conservative charles_gerrish@bathnes.gov.uk
Elfan Ap Rees Conservative elfan.ap.rees@n-somerset.gov.uk
Mark Bradshaw Labour mark.bradshaw@bristol.gov.uk
Brian Allison Conservative brian.allinson@southglos.gov.uk
Ian Ducat South West TUC i.ducat@unison.co.uk
Cllr Mark Bradshaw told us in an email that the bid for government funding provides the opportunity to look at priorities again and to consider the addition of further schemes. “As you know, we are strongly committed to support for improving rail services here, and shall be considering the merits of adding a local bid to support our joint rail action plan, taking account of existing commitments and the likely funding available, for consideration by the region for its submission to government in February”
Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways (FOSBR) and Railfuture Severnside
severnbeach@hotmail.co.uk October 2008