I attach the newsletter and a final chance for pre-booking to come to our conference which is filling up, but still has plenty of spare places. Please support this event as if it goes well, it bodes supportively for more and helps us get our message across, encouraging others to take an interest.
ERTA continues to need more resources in the form of reliable people coming on board and donations are welcome via our bank account: HSBC ERTA Sort Code: 40-45-27 Bank Number 92086808
These help us with production of flyers, brochures, venue hire and practical things - all geared to highlight and bring to the fore our core values and requests towards better public transport.
It is for local people to get organised and determine what they wish for and set about fostering it unto fruition. ERTA can be an agency banner to do that work and it helps us and by wider promotion and reification of principles, aim to connect the grassroots with the powers, authorities and agencies of funding to bring to fruition beit route protection measures, reopenings, rebuilds, better bus links between principal bus and rail stations (Bedford is an example) and much more.
On Bedford-Cambridge, whilst we welcome a route, we still believe there was much merit in going east of Bedford via St John's and diverting before or after Willington, approaching maybe via North of Blunham in the Grange area Tempsford from the south and having physical rail linkage, not just a station making people from Stevenage, East Bedfordshire and Peterborough change whilst meaning no passenger or freight trains can come to Bedford off or onto the East Coast Main Line out of Kings Cross. This seems short sighted and Bedford Borough, English Economic Heartlands right up to Government would do well to keep options open and remember strategic contingency planning, passively design in potential and maybe for example St John's Halt to Cardington Road could be made a cycle-cum-walk-way and keep the old platforms for picnicking for example, rather than block off the route with housing later to regret this loss to the Sustrans Cycle route to Sandy for example from the railway interface.
Elsewhere development pressures abound and we are seeking to protect routes and engage, but unless strategic ratcheting up of route and deviation protections is forth-coming from Government with incentives to local councils, we may see the spectacle of Government with one hand rolling out funds to nurture reopenings, whilst through negligence, allowing very same routes or others to be lost with the other hand, nullifying the whole endeavour!
So interesting times and the work continues. Thank you.
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