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28 to 30 June - Westbury Bypass exhibition in Westbury - 2614/5750 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Tuesday, 19th June 2007 If you want to see more about the ROAD plans that the County Council have just passed, there's an exhibition in Westbury from 28th to 30th June. http://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/latestheadlines/display.var.1479828.0.westbury_bypass_plans_to_go_on_show.php Re: 28 to 30 June - Westbury Bypass exhibition in Westbury - 2614/5793 Written by Lee on Thursday, 21st June 2007 More on this (link below.) http://www.westpress.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=146238&command=displayContent&sourceNode=146064&contentPK=17623025&folderPk=100268&pNodeId=145795 Apparently , council chiefs said more than Re: 28 to 30 June - Westbury Bypass exhibition in Westbury - 2614/5953 Written by Lee on Thursday, 28th June 2007 Opening the exhibition , George Batten , director of environmental services at Wiltshire County Council, said: "It has been a 20-year journey with Westbury Bypass and this is just another phase in that 20-year journey." (link below.) http://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/display.var.1503381.0.bypass_plans_go_on_show.php He said the exhibition was designed to show people what work has been done and what the next steps would be. He added there would still be the opportunity for people who object or agree with the plans to make their voices heard at a public enquiry at around Christmas time. Kath Noble , from the Westbury Alliance , said: "We want a western route. Southwick cannot take any more traffic and a route along the railway line would better serve the whole community." Re: 28 to 30 June - Westbury Bypass exhibition in Westbury - 2614/5984 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Friday, 29th June 2007 I have added a comment to that newspaper article, as follows: I had a chance to pop in to the exhibition while it was open to the public yesterday. As Mr Hawker commented, it was very well and professionally laid out and the case for the bypass was pesuasively presented. You'll note that I come from a town that's a few miles north on the A350, and I'm worried that improvements to the route, such as a Westbury Eastern bypass, will draw new traffic even above any natural growth into the area, and onto feeder roads. The exhibition's diagrams confirmed that such a draw of extra traffic is expected - it shows a 42% rise in HGV traffic on this trunk road heading north out of the area, beyond the bypass. Speaking with two of the experts present, I understand that the various studies on the road impact that were being shown have only looked as far north as the Semington Roundabout. And that worries me, as I can imagine places such as Beanacre and the North Melksham area going into gridlock if the majority of the extra HGV traffic tries to get through there on existing, unimproved roads. I was down in Exeter at a public enquiry on Tuesday (first time I've even been to one!) and shocked at the 200 to 300 million figures that came up for improving the A350 all the way from Warminster to the motorway. A more managed approach, and making full use of the parallel rail corridor - maintained to mainline standards, but with just 2 passenger trains a day (07:00 and 19:35 from Westbury) and existing earthworks if it needed to be doubled to take more freight would be a much more sensible option. Re: 28 to 30 June - Westbury Bypass exhibition in Westbury - 2614/5997 Written by Lee on Saturday, 30th June 2007 Graham , has the issue of lorries diverted from Bath been taken into account? (link below.) http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=456.msg1331#msg1331 Re: 28 to 30 June - Westbury Bypass exhibition in Westbury - 2614/5998 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Saturday, 30th June 2007 [quote author=Lee link=topic=2614.msg5997#msg5997 date=1183196569] Graham , has the issue of lorries diverted from Bath been taken into account? (link below.) [/quote] I don't know. Re: 28 to 30 June - Westbury Bypass exhibition in Westbury - 2614/6012 Written by Pete on Sunday, 1st July 2007 [color=Blue][quote author=Graham Ellis link=topic=2614.msg5984#msg5984 date=1183127294] I was down in Exeter at a public enquiry on Tuesday... [/quote] Graham, I too was at the EiP in Exeter on Tuesday and Wednesday. I would be grateful if you would clear something up for me. In your statement to the panel you said something along the lines of...[/color] [color=Purple]"It currently takes me 45 minutes to get to Swindon by train, and 115 minutes to get their by bus, if the Westbury bypass is built, it will still take me 115 minutes to get to Swindon by bus".[/color] [color=blue]As you live in Melksham, I was just wondering why you think it would be necessary to go anywhere near Westbury to get to Swindon? Pete[/color] Re: 28 to 30 June - Westbury Bypass exhibition in Westbury - 2614/6016 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Sunday, 1st July 2007 [quote author=Pete link=topic=2614.msg6012#msg6012 date=1183289833] As you live in Melksham, I was just wondering why you think it would be necessary to go anywhere near Westbury to get to Swindon? [/quote] I don't, Pete. Re: 28 to 30 June - Westbury Bypass exhibition in Westbury - 2614/6039 Written by Pete on Monday, 2nd July 2007 [quote author=Graham Ellis link=topic=2614.msg6016#msg6016 date=1183309000] Where do you live, Pete? [/quote] [color=Blue]In the middle of Westbury, on the A350.[/color] [quote author=Graham Ellis link=topic=2614.msg6016#msg6016 date=1183309000] What are public transport journey times like from your own home to places like Salisbury, Swindon and London? [/quote] [color=Blue]With regard to Salisbury and Swindon, I have no idea, I rarely have the need to travel in those directions. London, however, I travel to approximately once a month. I use the train for this and, due to time constraints, I use the Westbury - Paddington route. Travel time being about 1.5 hours not including getting to Westbury Station and where ever I'm going in London. I have, on one occassion used the Westbury - Salisbury - Waterloo route, but this, at nearly 2.5 hours, takes too much time out of the day.[/color] [quote author=Graham Ellis link=topic=2614.msg6016#msg6016 date=1183309000] Would major improvements proposed to part of the A350 but not to other sections reduce or increase traffic past your place? [/quote] [color=Blue]Being in the centre of Westbury, the bypass would obviously reduce traffic past my house.[/color] [quote author=Graham Ellis link=topic=2614.msg6016#msg6016 date=1183309000] Do you commute along the corridor? [/quote] [color=Blue]No, I work from home and as such try to keep my travelling down to the bare minimum. My last session of commuting was to Newbury on the train. My last car commute was to Winchester. I did try to use the train, but having no direct link I had to go to Southampton then back up to Winchester. According to the schedule, total travel time should have been 1:42, in my experience the journey was never less than 2 hours and on occassion 2:30 - 3:00 hours. by car it was 1:15 hours door to door. If I have to go to a meeting, depending on the time and location, my first port of call is always the train. Pete [/color] Re: 28 to 30 June - Westbury Bypass exhibition in Westbury - 2614/6041 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Monday, 2nd July 2007 Thanks for that extra background, Pete ... and I certainly understand and support your desire to move heavy lorries, and other traffic, away from the front of people's homes. Of course, the metrics / balance are quite tricky and it would be oh-so-easy for a scheme to relieve a problem in one area and create a new one elsewhere; that's my "complete corridor" approach / question (and, no, I don't know all the answers, or even a half of them). We had something of a conundrum when First "pulled" most of the trains from the Swindon to West Wilts service, but instead ran some bus journeys from Frome and Trowbridge to Chippenham via the Station there (first 3 in the morning). Re: 28 to 30 June - Westbury Bypass exhibition in Westbury - 2614/6048 Written by Pete on Monday, 2nd July 2007 [quote author=Graham Ellis link=topic=2614.msg6041#msg6041 date=1183397401] I COULD have caught the 06:44 from Melksham on Tuesday and got to Exeter Central, with 3 changes, for 09:21; Re: 28 to 30 June - Westbury Bypass exhibition in Westbury - 2614/6129 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Saturday, 7th July 2007 Letter on subject in Wiltshire Times: http://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/wiltshiretimesletters/display.var.1526293.0.traffic_warning.php Re: 28 to 30 June - Westbury Bypass exhibition in Westbury - 2614/6144 Written by John on Saturday, 7th July 2007 Great letter, Graham. Re: 28 to 30 June - Westbury Bypass exhibition in Westbury - 2614/6160 Written by Pete on Sunday, 8th July 2007 [color=Blue]Graham, Your letter is a little misleading...[/color] [color=Purple]"Last Tuesday I spoke at the public enquiry that's running in Exeter at the moment into the development of the south west (which includes Wiltshire) over the next 20 years. The subject being discussed was the increased use of existing rail corridors and speaker after speaker was in favour. Only a single voice (out of 100 people in the room) took the opposite view - and that was the representative of Wiltshire County Council."[/color] [color=Blue]There may have been 100 people in the room, me included, but only about 25 delegates sat at the table (those who were allowed to speak). However, not all of these representatives spoke either for or against increasing the use of the rail network. To say that, effectively, only 1% of the attending people were against it is quite wrong. Pete[/color] Re: 28 to 30 June - Westbury Bypass exhibition in Westbury - 2614/6166 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Monday, 9th July 2007 Attendees at the enquiry in public are arranged into interest groups, probably to avoid the whole thing getting out of hand - an enquiry which was scheduled to run for 10 weeks and is attended each day by around 100 persons is costing a lot of money as it is, and if everyone were to speak on every subject that would be even more so; as it was, that afternoon two questions were covered in depth, and a third to which I spoke was covered rather quicker than I would have liked based on the chair's request to get it completed that evening, which as it was ran to later that I had been advised would be the case. The arramgement of the sessions was such that each of the interest groups has a spokeperson whom they appointed from amongst themselves to sit in theit talking chair around the table, and that person can switch as appropriate. Re: 28 to 30 June - Westbury Bypass exhibition in Westbury - 2614/6185 Written by Lee on Monday, 9th July 2007 [quote author=Graham Ellis link=topic=2614.msg6166#msg6166 date=1183956359]And I'm going to conclude with one final thought. Re: 28 to 30 June - Westbury Bypass exhibition in Westbury - 2614/6206 Written by John on Tuesday, 10th July 2007 I have just heard that the Westbury Eastern Bypass scheme has been called in by the Government for a full public planning inquiry. This ought to allow the case for an integrated Wilts freight/passenger transport solution, with improved access to our existing railways, to be fairly and properly examined. Re: 28 to 30 June - Westbury Bypass exhibition in Westbury - 2614/6211 Written by Pete on Tuesday, 10th July 2007 [color=Blue]Whilst I agree that there should be more investment in the railways, I don't believe that it is the be all and end all to the problems in Westbury. Pete[/color] Re: 28 to 30 June - Westbury Bypass exhibition in Westbury - 2614/6219 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Wednesday, 11th July 2007 [quote author=Pete link=topic=2614.msg6211#msg6211 date=1184106956] [color=Blue]Whilst I agree that there should be more investment in the railways, I don't believe that it is the be all and end all to the problems in Westbury. Pete[/color] [/quote] I'm sure you're right, Pete - there's little sense in looking at a solution which deals with just one mode of transport and geographic area to the exclusion of other modes of transport, or to the exclusion of the effect on other geographic areas. Have a look at the various suggestions that you'll find on this board, and on our sister board at [url]http://www.firstgreatwestern.info[/url] that relate to "Gateway" stations, train / bus links, park and ride facilities, freight, etc. And, yes, there would almost inevitably be some road improvements / local new sections and resultant traffic rerouting. Re: 28 to 30 June - Westbury Bypass exhibition in Westbury - 2614/6245 Written by Lee on Thursday, 12th July 2007 [quote author=John link=topic=2614.msg6206#msg6206 date=1184091782]I have just heard that the Westbury Eastern Bypass scheme has been called in by the Government for a full public planning inquiry. This ought to allow the case for an integrated Wilts freight/passenger transport solution, with improved access to our existing railways, to be fairly and properly examined.[/quote] Here are some links regarding this. http://www.transport2000.org.uk/news/maintainNewsArticles.asp?NewsArticleID=395 http://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/latestheadlines/display.var.1536886.0.public_inquiry_called_into_bypass_plan.php http://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/latestheadlines/display.var.1537831.0.mp_fears_more_bypass_delays.php#comments http://www.westpress.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=146238&command=displayContent&sourceNode=146064&contentPK=17821701&folderPk=100268&pNodeId=145795 Re: 28 to 30 June - Westbury Bypass exhibition in Westbury - 2614/6336 Written by Lee on Tuesday, 17th July 2007 Almost 1,000 people passed through the doors of the Westbury bypass exhibition (link below.) http://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/latestheadlines/display.var.1547985.0.1_000_attend_bypass_exhibition.php There have also been more than 30,000 hits on the website , www.westburybypass.com , and this figure is rising every day. Fleur de Rhe-Philipe , county council cabinet member for environment , transport and economic development , said: "The bypass will represent a most significant change for Westbury and the exhibition was a real chance for everyone to find out more about this very important project." "Many people took that chance. As well as being able to talk to people directly involved in the project, visitors to the exhibition have been having their say about the improvements on the way forward for their town." "It was extremely pleasing to see so many people attend." link to index of articles |
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Save the Train was the campaign to bring an approriate train service back to and through Melksham. Most big contributors are still around writing at the Coffee shop forum where new members are very welcome. The train has been saved - sort of - we have stepped back up from an unusable service to a poorish one but it's doing very well. We did that through setting up the TransWilts Community Rail Partnership. That fulfilled its early objectives; it has been taken over by local and regional government types who are now doing medium and long term work. The team from this forun can also be found at the Melksham Rail User Group (which was the Melksham Rail Development Group at the time these articles were written and we had no users. We mustn't loose sight, though, that the train service remains poor and needs our community support in marketing and campaigning to keep it going in a positive direction ... and all the more so when we're expecting to find a different normallity once we get out of the Coronavirus Pandemic and head for zero carbon via the climate crisis. Yes, it's saved ... it's now a key community facility ... the need for enhancement and the strong and near-universal local support remain, and the rail industry and goverment remain slow to move and provide the enhancements even to level us up with other towns. Please support the Melksham Rail User Group - now very much in partnership rather than protest with the rail industry and local government, including GWR, TransWilts and unitary and town councils. And please use the trains and buses, and cycle and walk when you can. -- Graham Ellis, (webmaster), February 2021 | |||
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