and
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2014/jun/autism-and-pesticides
Click the links above for fuller picture and benefit to the reader below:
Comment: Surely we do not want 500+ extra lorries pounding local roads per day? On the other hand, if it were rail connected and doubled up as a zero waste cum recycling hub on a regional scale (ratios of viability and train-load capacity) and if the ash was taken out and if non-toxic such as to not need underground storage for the long term, but could be ploughed back in some shape or form beit an embankment bulking material, fertiliser or some other use - then the demand that it be rail served in design terms from day one should be a planning requirement before any go-ahead considerations. Many Marston residents take a "we don't want it" stance and understandably, but fail to put anything in it's place - creating jobs, conservation with jobs (not mere arbitrary for those with good fortune to spend quiet week-days starring at and objectifying birds and wildfowl).
Likewise whilst we welcome Bedfordshire on Sunday's article about widening pavements and making High Street single lane, this is a half-way to full pedestrianisation which is the nettle which needs grasping. Traffic could be directed down Shakespere Road, Ashburnham and Prebend Street or via the Western Bypass or by St Peters-St Cuthberts-Newnham Road and then Embankment - Town Bridge. You could part pedestrianise the north end High Street and have a one-way Mill Street to south High Street at Debenhams for example. The agenda of getting buses to serve Tavistock Street remains, Bedford Heights - Town Centre out via Turner Way, back via Gainsborough Rise. Park Road North should be made one way except for buses as often there are stand offs. I got too close to a car waiting a clear-way, without warning they reversed over my bikes front wheel and then drove off, such is the attitude behind the wheel sometimes and it only takes one hot head for an accident - pedestrians come off worse.
These things are replicated across the regions and it is our belief that only an incremental reopening of select closed lines, can we break the roads only stranglehold and un-lock locked-in solutions which compound pollution and mayhem. How could this be funded? Well tolling the motorways at £1 a vehicle every 15 miles would inform a pot towards costs and savings on volume-weight of traffic to road wear and tear maintenance and renewal would save Councils money too. The Saints area including St Minerva Road, has appalling examples of cars parking on kerbs and kerb rutting un-addressed. CPZing the area would enable Zone Boys and Girls to police these streets, nip culprits in the bud and book those who are driving stolen vehicles, dumping vehicles and encroaching legitimate pedestrian spaces. Have cried out for a one-way system for St Michael's Road for donkeys years to no avail - a 'can't, won't, don't' attitude seems rife in some elected circles enthralled with aesthetics over bread and butter matters, hoy-poloy arts and culture, than local, urban and rural sustainability. The trouble with their 'progressive gentrification' agenda sweeping out of the London and Southeast region is that it heralds sterility in it's wake. In short poorer people spend and local businesses get a boost, wealthier people are wealthier because they scrimp and save and buy houses and furnishings which last 20 years - Quality Street not Coronation Street!
Thanks to all who wrote objecting to the Olney Plan which seeks to scupper the Handley Alignment route. More details even though today is the last day - can be found on our reader-Blogspot: http://
Finally, we are seeking helpers to share a stall with us at St Paul's Church. You must be reliable and keen and have a good manner for relating with customers. Email erta.rails6@yahoo.co.uk for offers, likewise dropping off any donated railway related books, magazines or small memorabilia for us to sell. Please see: https://ertarail.com/
Yours sincerely,
Richard Pill
ERTA Officer.
Ps. That improvements to the Marston Vale Railway service and indeed the High Street in Bedford are being explored at all is in no small way a result of our campaigning - it works!
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