Central Bedfordshire Dilemmas

I am writing to you about some concerns which have arisen which we at ERTA are of a view of what should be done and wish to make you aware of it.

1. Rookery Pit Waste and Recycling Centre. The approach to this has been wrong and lack-lustre - who is advising you/the responsible person on this project? Surely the centre, if it goes ahead should be rail-served off the Marston Vale railway from day one? This centre, to be viable, will seek regional audiences to bring in waste and take out tonnes of ash. The old County Minerals Plans of a decade or more ago, made it clear it desired to send more by rail but fell short in such aspiration by virtue of a. the rails were not there or joined up, b. the rail system does not lend itself to quick turn around and c. Costs and liabilities makes Councils afraid of debt, fear putting forward a rail plan. Meanwhile routes and options are compromised for other development pressures ending in a loss of potential reach and ranges. Government needs feedback. Has anyone contacted Rt. Hon Mr Chris Grayling M.P., Secretary of State for Transport to make a case for this centre to be rail connected from day one? 500 lorries a day on our roads will add to wear and tear costs, add to congestion potential, slow other road users down and generally cause an inconvenience. What the corridor needs is a rail-based plan to nurture recycling by rail, bulky things like cars, fridges, scrap metal and so forth and then the apparatus to on-site recycle and sell that material to those who can deploy it. With East-West Rail, the Marston Vale will be a regional link and because it has spare capacity and is off main lines, can offer more potentially. Are we picking up on this window to create jobs, sustainable jobs and boost the sustainable footprint of our operational needs?

2. Ampthill Station. Housing now goes up to the A507 bypass which has become a localised, speed check distributor artery with mini roundabouts inserted along it. The old myth that the old station was too far out of the town to be used, needs debunking in a development and car based societal revolution - welcome to the 21st century. Flitwick courts commuters off the M1, from Milton Keynes, Marston Vale and south of Wixams as well as Ampthill and Flitwick for example. It's catchment is thus up to 20 miles. If commuters can drive-time south, they save £'s on rail tickets and give themselves time to themselves. Fact is that the development around Flitwick has to be pitted against the growth of commuting demand and that modest provision will quickly be surpassed and reverting as now to parking on streets proliferatedly becomes a nuisance. Moreover the town hangs on one railway bridge over the railway and poor local roads including height-width restrictions along Froghall Road. A pedestrian crossing is needed from Flitwick Station footbridge to the Swan Pub across the road bridge to link with Dunstable Road and the row of shops opposite. The bus shelter for Ampthill needs sprucing up and made more visible, signposted from the station exits with RTI installed and a focus on Flitwick-Ampthill bus distributor services up until about 22:00 Monday-Saturday to enable rail-bus access minus the drive. 

What Ampthill would offer if:

a. Traffic relief to Flitwick

b. Access to it from the Stepplingley Road - creams off from A507, CentreParcs, M1, Milton Keynes and Marston Vale audiences heading to and from the London commute

c. Creates 00's more parking potentially for the next 10 years of growth. 

d. You're dealing with up to 20 mile catchment for any station with the aforementioned drive-south pull.

e. It could be made cycle/pedestrian safe with a crossing or footbridge across the A507 to Station Road for the town centre and a pedestrian/cycle access south of the industrial estate for access to Froghall Road, Redbourne and East Flitwick.

f. Relocation is required but could prove lucrative and spread jobs locally if handled sensitively in an incremental choice manner - decent planning and policies to trade-off land for access and rent variation. The station is in the interest of the greater good surely including business and domestic audiences?

g. The railway station would bring footfall and spend, sustaining small - medium business' and could provide overflow park and bus nurture to Ampthill, Maulden and Clophill but also Toddington-Ampthill-Bedford services and Centre Parcs/Ridgmont East-West Rail/Bus Station interchange links nurture.

A study should be commissioned to make the case for reopening and then policies created to, over a 10 year period, get the station firmly tabled and ideally underway in the Network Rail Stations Programmes - there is a small and competitive pot for grants to reopen stations now.

You have to understand, this option is far more advantageous than Wixams, which has a £16 million deficit in funding which should have been secured from the developers via Section 106 surely?

3. Structural weakness:

Is it the case that Central Bedfordshire is too big and unwieldy and under-resourced? East Bedfordshire (principally the Sandy, Potton and Biggleswade area), Central Bedfordshire (Flitwick and Ampthill) and South Bedfordshire (Dunstable and Leighton Linslade) are 3 distinct areas, polulations and relationships to each other in goods and service and access terms. Buses across the area are scant, the recent diminutive regarding the No. 81 bus shows how the new order of unitary authority is not bringing planning and transport to the fore in championing or strength of resilience terms, rather the whole melt down shows weakness, incompetence and a lack of flare and marketing realisation. Smaller councils would have more localised focus with possibly a Bedfordshire West sub division centred on Cranfield and your share of the Marston Vale out as far as Aspley Heath. With the expansion and power magnet of Milton Keynes and the independence of Luton, small may be more robust than merger and inevitable 'one Borough shoe size fits all' budget-wise spread. Surely a consideration of what's to become of Bedfordshire and it's related councils and cover needs to be had and Government facilitated public balloting on any reforms ascertained?

We see development steadily eroding the old route of the Bedford-Sandy-Cambridge rail route - so how will it be done, if at all? Bypassing Bedford makes it Bletchley-Sandy-Cambridge. Cambridge end is blocked (Trumpington Meadows development), Shepreth and Shepreth Junction are 2 different places. Government says "austerity" yet can find money for £3.5 billion new East-West Road building - this in-spite and before the railway is delivered - what we are saying is "Give rail a chance"! We must save and conserve land. Development is getting precariously near the Greensands Ridge near Ampthill - it is not a path, it is a landstrip of linear value and must be a wide greenspace corridor. Likewise the restoration of the Round House at Brogborough should be done and ideally made into a proper heritage centre with scenic and panoramic view and picnic site akin to the Dunstable Downs, looking over what was the Bedford Vale. It could have footpath and cycle access to and from the Ridgmont Station/Interchange and should be co-marketed as such. That it is in such a perilous state shows a contempt for our diverse history and make up and is a missed opportunity.

I trust these comments will be taken into account in your deliberations please.

I attach a picture of the Round House which has 2 ringed iron-age ditches nearby apparently - are we missing a trick here?! Or is this a sign of what current Local Government status is heading towards - history repeating itself and back-water status? For more on our Ampthill project, please see our website: https://ertarail.com/ampthill/

If you support our calls for an Ampthill Station or any of the above, why note write a polite letter of text to Cllr Jamieson and give your support for ERTA's stance?

Contact: Cllr James Jamieson

Leader of the Council

Central Bedfordshire Council Priory House, Monks Walk, Chicksands, Shefford, Bedfordshire, SG17 5TQ

Direct Dial: 0300 300 8532 |  Email: james.jamieson@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk | Twitter: @jgjamieson