The ERTA successful events programme continues and I attach 2 meetings one for the Guildford area and associated South East transport matters and one for Northampton and associated rail related matters.
Please do feel free to share/pass on. More the merrier and as always, registration for the Zoom Meetings is via Mr Simon Barber whose email is cc'd in this email.
Other dates for your diary are:
- London Forum (on Zoom) - this has now been agreed for Saturday, 28 November 2020 from 2-4pm
- Conference (on Zoom) - this has now been agreed for Saturday, 24 April 2021 from 2-5pm (1.30pm start)
Newsletter will be out 1st November. Our Brackmills and Bedford old St John's Pamphlets are available via email request to richard.erta@gmail.com. It is never too late to send emails or support or objection until it is! So, please pile in, likewise saving the Guildford-Horsham trackbed for rail purposes, not a canal or exclusive non-rail usership. There is the cycle lobby, the canal lobby and the rail lobby and unless a shared co-existence with respective recognition of needs-must be found, the only winner is a congested road lobby! Pathetic to talk about cutting emissions on dustbin trucks as tinkering at the edges, when we're pouring £millions into new and widened roads to be filled with ever more traffic 'buying time' making the situation ultimately worse and more congested/polluted.
ERTA seeks to put the rail alternative. The existing network is inadequate to reach and range to make modal shift/choosing rail for passenger and freight a realistic proposition. Rather than HS2 whereby they are a big scheme coming at it top-down, we advocate small, incremental, local, conventional links inclusive of people, places, communities and multiplied, the model achieves at less cost a much more comprehensive rail alternative and a better Britain to face whatever the storms of life bring. The Victorians knew, to be disconnected, was to face disenfranchisement and in a largely unregulated market, went full pelt to be connected with the result of competing lines, stations and yet it settled and worked notwithstanding the dent to economy and population of 2 World Wars. In such a Post War context the closures were implemented. There may have been a 20th Century growth of trend of oil and internal combustion and more by road fuelling road demand, but the closures locked-in that trend and now we are at a point where more choice is wanted and necessary to calm traffic volumes and consider things like land use, spaces and the environment. That is why we need comprehensive reaches and ranges, not just packing the West Coast Main Line full and leaving large swathes disconnected still. Brackmills needs re-railing, a freight plan for the Marston Vale is needed and keeping options open via St John's for a role for rail makes operational sense, so why not?
We continue to wave our views before politicians and the public and hope they get it. We need a balance and are in some cases, maybe many cases still a long way from it and are poorer for it. Our next stall at St Paul's Church, Bedford is Saturday 7th November - all welcome: https://www.antiques-atlas.com/antique_fair/bedfordshires_antiques_collectors_fair_st_pauls/af2055
Without your patronage and support, we cannot sustain the advance of the choice agenda. Even if we get it, then the impetus is to choose and vote with feet and wallets and so everyone can play a part in making a difference whatever your postcode!
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