Bad News on Guildford-Horsham:
On the week of 11th October the Waverley District Council met and decided by one vote after over 2 hours deliberation, to support a canal over the old railway formation. This will scupper the rail hope. ERTA worked tirelessly to alert the public within our means and limited resources. Locally, we felt some sympathy for the railway idea, but the competing interests, the longevity of the closure and the fact the councils seemed at sixes and sevens on what the case was for such a rail link, shows the area had moved on and like so many other places, car is king now with roads as the main transport option, locked-in but loved even as a mirage of freedom and iconic individualism statement. ERTA had pencilled a date for a Horsham Meeting post-pandemic in 2022, but now we need our members to tell us whether to proceed or not. It will be a case of water, water everywhere!
The canal is not a panacea and their motors do make noise. However, experience elsewhere has taught us that many applications get passed off, then cost, timescales and delivery dates slip for a host of reasons. Obviously we wish the rail was being put first than a canal/other interests, but we are not giving up as the corridor lends itself to expansion and new interpretation and so accommodating a railway, a canal and cycleway/walkway means expansion is to be played for surely? This is a strategic missing link and deserves more strategic support and recognition. It should not be down to us to realise that or the general public, rather this is where leadership, apprehension and direction/action commensurate to filling gaps in the existing rail network comes into its own. Climate Emergency, better links and access, relief to existing lines like the jam packed Brighton Main Line should all indicate a relief link to Reading, Heathrow and Brighton triangulation makes a whole lot of sense if we wish to save land use, cut emissions, reduce traffic congestion and improve greener-cleaner public transport/make it more relevant to more audiences/inform modal shift. Our politics seems very parochial currently with a head-in-sand view of parish pump does it and the rest of the world can go sing a song! We need people with local, regional and nationwide interest and to export best practise and learn from our mistakes to the rest of the world by all means.
ERTA is toying with a meeting committee style in Horsham next year 2022. If you agree with that idea, let us know so we can have some indication of interest. Likewise our events page on our website including our conference this Saturday (23rd) October is free, open to all and all welcome.
I attach our pdf of Guildford flyer currently being distributed. Thanks for your interest and support. Let's pray our nation turns a corner and realises more and better rails can make a positive contribution and that status quo is woefully inadequate. Our website home page has a donations facility now, all contributions welcome to help us fund our activities in the wider public and nationwide interest please. We welcome people to join/affiliate and welcome people to offer to help assist with our work to make it better quality and quantity. We are only as good as our supporters make/enable us. Thank you.
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