Despite the gloom around Covid, we had a positive meeting on Zoom yesterday about rail links to and from Northampton. Positive action and moving things forwards on a number of fronts courts Government tiers of all kinds to play ball and reciprocate and ideally give more leadership, direction and targeted policy and resources to nurture modal shift through choice for the benefit of people, communities and the environment. Clear choices exist, it is either more roads with time-wasted congestion and parking conflicts or re-railing and enabling rail to do more beit freight and/or passenger as well. ERTA is playing a key role in seeking to bring people of all walks together and find common ground, work together and nurture those choices we all may wish for on and off the rails. Development and impacts should be a concern to us all and striving to get balances right beyond mere ascetical considerations, should be a top priority. We can't just go on building platforms dependent on the car for everything, we must nurture choice to such lifestyles and make amenities accessible with walking, cycling, bus and rail incentives more.
I attach our newsletter showing what we are doing and have done as well as our summer programme of zoom meetings. Physical meetings may commence with our stall at St Paul's on 5th June in Bedford and unroll as unlock may permit. See: https://www.antiques-
On a note about being Bedford-centric, we are reliant on people elsewhere to help make things happen and send us news and captions/photos for us to use on social media and newsletter potential. We can only input what others help to inform, campaigning is about making news, not just passively following it! But with East-West Rail debates - remember in 1986 when we met at Centre Com Milton Keynes and 1987 when we met at The Bell Sandy, no-one was organising rail reopening of an Oxford-Cambridge railway beyond talk individually. Then 1995 the East West Consortium was formed after years of us pleading Councils and Government to protect routes and keep options open. 1997 the Bedford-Sandy part was fully worked up and evaluated and positive to go ahead, but stalled. Now we have a new route which is not as we may wish and indeed have suggested an alternative using the old route can be identified which fits in with a Tempsford orientation rather than Sandy which is screened off with development now. Cambridge likewise, pleaded with Councils not to build Trumpington Meadows Estate across the old railway route, but they have anyway. So we are left with a derivative set of options and dynamics and sadly, the pattern repeats elsewhere too. We want to rebuild a Westminster Team to pursue a national rail route protection legal obligation with incentives to reopen and protect and sanctions if development is allowed to blight strategic corridors.
For the Brackmills Brochure, Newsletter or Rail Reopenings pdf docs please request email via richard.erta@gmail.com. Hard copies also available.
Yours sincerely,
Richard Pill
ERTA Chairman
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