#StopHS2 The campaign against has been long and hard, but last February 2020 before Pandemic was 'public', Boris Johnson gave the go ahead to construction. It is happening, like it or loathe it. Before the go ahead there was a load of quasi judicial argument and lobbying for and against but after the opposition seems to have reverted to digging tunnels, inhabiting tree houses and fauna/flora and tree hugging emotive expressionism, but seems to me it is as chalk v cheese. The vested interests and subservient jobs worthy employed talk a different language, think and assume a different reality and with exceptional dispensations on their side; what is to stop the will and way of their dominant power prevailing? Speak truth to power by all means, but I am less than sensing the tree hugger brigades have much chance here? Prove me wrong by all means, but the next step is Extinction Rebellion and then Terrorism surely, whereby if you don't get what you want, by that time your beliefs and sense of cause so dominates all lifestyles and mentalities that anything seems fair game, fair cop for a chance to make a score, challenge a norm and upturn convention. I would say stop! Think! This is the wrong way to go. You have to turn around, have a shower, get dressed and argue the case, accepting due process of some you may win, others you may lose and not hang-on painfully against all reason and the odds. Some will rebuke what I am saying, taking either side of the fence, but I believe in terms of lessons learnt, we can all learn from the experience of oppositing #HS2. One is knowing how far to go, when to stop. There's no panacea on winning, but if losing, lose gracefully. Ultimately it is the country as a whole responsibility. Mass voted for Boris, like him or loathe him. The country therefore gets the goods, the bads and the ugly's. If we destroy our planet, we ultimately destroy ourselves. A catalogue of misery, suffering and premature death, just like austerity and to think the instigators like with the War for Iraq are people who call themselves 'Christian' in some cases, shows broad church is a euphemism for 'laissez-fare when it suites' and 'draconianism' and many a 'straining at gnats and swallowing camels' also. Hypocrisy as well as intrinsic goodness are both human traits. Pragmatism and discernment is needed to decide what is what and when and where and act accordingly, not necessarily conformity or rebellion per se.
On East-West Rail, I am flaberghasted by the current consultation and its prescription of what is required. The old route with select new build, even taken to an extreme was a lesser evil (actual good!) than the current proposed Northern Route 'E'. Yet ploughing through, knocking down about 100 houses and then impact on Northern Bedford quasi rural landscapes all adds up and then how to tackle Black Cat Roundabout which does not make passive provision for any East-West Rail, shows it is out of sync with development and varied agendas overlapping. Chaos in simple terms. That for a decade, hellish if in the cross-fire or a casualty of the upheaval.
For me, I've advocated an east-west rail for 35 years. I want the old route via St Johns with passenger trains reversing in and out of Bedford Midland with new bay platforms provided. Alas, I am sidelined, am told can't be done, dismissed, cancel culture abounds and yet... is the price of that which is proposed justified? Differing weights and measures -hmmm Proverbs Chapter 11 verse 1 in The Bible comes to mind - have a look! But evil happens it was said when good men cease to do good. That lack, that absence and dearth of advocacy for a Plan B, specific, focused and inviting Bedford Borough to sign up and act as one team for project Bedford (unity based on sustainable platforms) is lacking. We have plauralism instead. It is all over the place and as a result, I fear no-one will be satisfied for, against or nuanced on east-west rail. There will always be winners and losers, but at what cost, we think of WW1 and trench warfare, the tip of the iceberg amidst a load of bodged decision making over years before and brinkmanship treating young men as canon fodder to be gambled with. We have to say no to such theatres and advocate the best option we may. Do nothing is no option. Burying head in sand merely passes responsibility to others. But as a new generation arises followed by their successors, will they thank us for HS2 and its followers or say "why?" in searching and critical terms? What of legacy? History repeats itself because no-one ever listens was once said on the streets of #Bedford in 1984. Have we learnt anything in the last 35 years? Been up hill and down many times, and one politician said "I never believed it would happen...but here we are" and that about sums it up! https://eastwestrail.co.uk/consultation
In response to a Bedford Borough Councillor I wrote:
I am unsure what houses you are referring to.
1. Cardington Road Road Bridge: There was one until about 1971, I am unaware of any new housing since then that has either blocked the old route there or aside to it. Fenlake Road could be made one way slipe off the east-west road and made one way to London Road. But solutions come easier if someone like you wanted the old route in preference to the Northern Route. Rather than toing and froing which gets us nowhere, default Northern Route creates as many if not more loss. I am unaware of any losses needed in the Cardington Road area unless of course you know of new housing to be developed either side of the sweep of the bridge?
2. Priory Marina Entrance. Again, it is a pain as a level crossing would suite it perfectly, but again I have seen no housing off Barkers Lane blocking the rail route or which would have to be demolished. Which ones are you referring to?
3. Riverside Drive: these people have traditionally objected to the rail link east of Bedford on noise grounds, even though they are about 150-200 metres away at the very nearest perimeter, they are separated by a perennial flood area.
4. So, as far as I am aware - by all means be specific - there are zero houses which would have to be destroyed to reinstate this former rail route. Bridging and visual impact needs looking at, but with a view to want the railway as a better solution to what is currently on the table. If merely for opposition, it defeats the object.
5. Reversing services: A few which come to mind are:
a. Birmingham - Barmouth reverses at Shrewsbury
b. Maidenhead - Marlow, reverses at Bourne End.
c. Plymouth - Gunnislake reverses at Calstock.
d. Some Nottingham-Skegness trains reverse into Grantham
e. Guildford-Gatwick reverses at Redhill
f. Bedford-Bletchley to Milton Keynes Central had £20 million spent on track and signalling to reverse out of Platform 5 to MK Central from Bedford, capacity has defeated it.
g. Brighton-Ashford, reverses out of Eastbourne.
These are just a few off the top of my head. But of course, the Oxbridge X5 is truncated from Oxford at Bedford with a change from a coach with a toilet, bike and luggage compartment to a double decker to Cambridge (905) which lacks those things and whereas took merely 1 hour Bedford-Cambridge direct, now 1.5 hours all round many other places in between. * Below.
A criticism of the former Bedford-Cambridge service is that it did not connect with Bedford Midland and suggestion was it used the former Hitchin bays, swept away with the late 1970's reconfiguration of the Bedford Midland Station. If tracks from Bedford-Bletchley to Bedford Midland are straightened and speeded up, turn around would be minimal delay and breaking journeys is not unknown.
5. On "The consultation, which is out now, proposes a rebuilding/movement of the midland station to make it better in dealing with capacity and better for the town of Bedford, an international hub station in Bedford with connections east west south and north, a new southern station around Kempston Hardwick on route and realignment at St Johns with a new station at St Johns to make it a faster piece of track." I agree with straightening tracks off the Bedford-Bletchley line to speed things up, but disagree a. with closure of existing Bedford-Bletchley stations, b. believe Kempston Hardwick could be upgraded to do more. I have also advocated a station for the Retail Park and Kempston Town, population upwards of 18, 000 population. Our proposal for the reversal of passenger trains does not detract from your goal of making more of Bedford, rather it takes out unnecessary freight movements enabling more passenger trains to serve it.
6. I can agree "Being bold is what we need to be to improve the viability of our town centre, house single people in the town centre, to solve the homelessness crisis and give them something attractive in relation to a place to live where they can use infrastructure, which will hopefully be carbon neutral and electrified, to commute to places of work with 2 of the best universities in the world and be able to travel in any direction while enjoying Bedford as their home." and our view is that. Whereas the Northern Route creates as many problems as it may be supported to cure? I'm all for helping the homeless, I see them littering around our town and whatever services are overwhelmed. Meanwhile the holes in the net of high sided absolute death row social services acceptance criterion, means many who need help do not get it/fall through and that compounds the situation. Build social housing by all means - Biddenham doesn't smack of that particularly (north side of Bromham Road), but don't build on the former station site at St Johns, keep that railway route open = our call for a number of years.
I hope this addresses your concerns. Clearly you see northern route as the way to go, but it need not be.
End.
* Add Norwich-Sheringham via Cromer and Glasgow-Mallaig via Fort William.
