| Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
South to North - TransWilts: My letter to FDRP - 4117/7729 Written by courgettelawn on Friday, 21st September 2007 I am catching up with many things following the accident. Apologies for brevity but these posts should speak for themselves. Response from Fleur de Rhe-Philipe follows above to my letter - below - regarding travelling difficulties across Wilts: -------- Dear Cllr de Rhe-Philipe, I write to you in your capacity as cabinet member with responsibility for Environment, Transport and Economic Development and also as member of Salisbury Transportation Plan Jt Committee. Following the decision by central government to endorse Wiltshire CC's application to be the only local authority body in the county, I wanted to air some of my concerns about transport to you while you remain in your current role. I live in Salisbury and currently it is very difficult to travel from south to north, for example to Chippenham, and more difficult than it should be. To travel by rail, I have to leave the county, change at Bath Spa, adding up to 50 minutes or more to the journey, notwithstanding delays. To travel by bus I have to change buses in Devizes, the total journey time exceeding two hours. The rail link that used to serve Salisbury and Chippenham, as you know, has been severely curtailed and there is only one weekday direct journey a day between the two, leaving Salisbury at 19:05 with no direct return journey at all. With a more appropriate service I and many others from the south of the county could travel to the north in about 50-55 minutes direct. This is also significantly quicker than a car journey on a normal day. While my opinion on the proposed Westbury Bypass is undecided, I do feel that if it is to be a long term success, public transport links must be improved _at the same time_. In areas of the country where bypasses have been used as a solution to congestion in towns, they have quickly found their capacity is reached and the problem of congestion and its related problems (air quality, poor environment, etc) recurrs but just moved elsewhere. I would not want this to happen in Wiltshire, especially considering the sums of tax-payers money to be spent on this road (should it go ahead). I am sure, with your current responsibility both for the road project and as our representative to local train operators and Department for Transport that this issue is foremost in your mind. I felt it was important therefore to air my concerns to you so you understand that the current difficulties, especialy with rail transport in Wiltshire, is an issue that affects people from all of its areas. The other crucial point to my worries concerns Wiltshire County Council's relocation of key services to places like Chippenham, for example the County Record Office and County Local Studies Library. Many users of the new facility will want, need and indeed ought to be encouraged, to use public transport instead of cars to get to Chippenham to use these services. The claims that access will be improved to these facilities and services must be followed through with thought for transport as well as the physicality and staff of the venue itself. This could not be more relevant in this age when we are all seeking to reduce our reliance on cars, not just for the sake of climate change but also for the conservation of finite resources and the improvement of the environment of urban areas. If a single WIltshire is also to be a success, the concept of the county must have effective communication at its heart. I would very much like to hear how the new council will address the problems with cross-county transport as part and parcel of the Bypass project. I look forward to your reply. I have copied this to my MP Robert Key with whom I have been in regular correspondence about the problems with transportation in the county. Yours sincerely, ----- 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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