Ampthill-Flitwick Forum for 10th September 2022

ERTA Ampthill and Flitwick Forum:

Saturday 10^th September 2022, 1pm food* 2-4pm business.

Venue is The Swan Pub, 1 Dunstable Road, Bedford MK45 1HP

​It is adjacent to the Thameslink-served railway station and with ample parking and bus links too. https://www.swaninnflitwick.co.uk/menus/ 

Write in support of a new additional station for Ampthill to:

1. Ampthill Town Council: https://www.ampthilltowncouncil.org.uk/contact

2. Central Beds Council: https://www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/directory/14/a_to_z/B

3. MP for Mid Beds: Ms Nadine Dorries https://members.parliament.uk/member/1481/contact

All welcome. If coming please email richard.erta@gmail.com

Any offers with reliable leafleting around Ampthill and Flitwick ahead of this event are welcome. Please let us know. All offers to help, assist and lead are also welcome to entertain please. Make it your campaign and endeavour too! It is all voluntary.

*Everyone is responsible to buy and pay for their own food and transport costs.

Apologies were received from a Mr Steve Anderson of Centre Parcs and Nadine Dorries MP for Mid Bedfordshire Constituency which includes Flitwick and Ampthill.

We followed an agenda and there were many questions and discussions. Some ranged from the inadequacy of Flitwick Station in a context of growth and demand for more parking over coming years. Others that Ampthill would be both a relief station and compliment Flitwick as well. 

Bus integration, cycle-pedestrian access, lowering speed and installing either a footbridge or crossing at the junction of Station Road Ampthill and A507 and the station access road which currently serves as an industrial complex. Some relocation packages would need brokering as per protection of lands west side of the Midland Main Line, which we understand is under threat of development in coming years.

It was admitted the population in a 5-mile catchment has and is expanding and Flitwick Station alone cannot cope beit lack of land for expanded parking, the road layout and single bridge over the railway and congestion and parking in local streets all would be partly resolved with the addition of An Ampthill railway station.

Action Stations:

It was explained that ERTA is a stretched voluntary outlet which is in the business of planting ideas. It needs public, elected representatives, all tiers of governance to support those ideas and in turn commission/access funding pots to work up the case and formal credentials with a view to courting Government support and ultimately a permission towards delivery. Landowners, leisure outlets, councils of all tiers, agencies and many more could contribute to a pot with studies in mind to find answers to questions, see what needs to be done and through policy and action, set about moving the agenda towards delivery.

Summary of key points:

1. It needs funding for a study

2. land retention to keep western approaches and other access routes viable

3. Relocation packages

4. May only be a half hourly frequency of Thameslink’s, but given plethora of frequency, it should be perfectly possible to absorb into a timetable.

5. Buses and inter-rail/bus-train ticketing could retain viability of bus networks more.

6. A need to get tiers of governance on board and in particular the Central Bedfordshire Unitary Council to help and work with us and be instrumental in gathering people, resources and round-tabling in a view of a good idea, not dismissing it.

7. The growth means something needs to be done or retained as a viable option.

Next meeting: same venue The Swan Pub, 1 Dunstable Road, Bedford MK45 1HP

T: 01525 754777 E: steph@theswanflitwick.co.uk It is adjacent to the Thameslink served railway station and with ample parking and bus links too. https://www.swaninnflitwick.co.uk/menus/ and will be 1pm food, 2-4pm business on Saturday 10^th September – all welcome to come, meet and join as members and offer to assist or lead accordingly please.

Meeting closed 15.10pm and it was felt as a first post-pandemic, it was a useful exercise and potential still to build on towards getting local people to help more and give the vital support, holding elected representatives to account and take an interest. 

All enquiries and expressions of interest via richard.erta@gmail.com and keep an eye on our website: https://ertarail.co.uk/

ERTA Ampthill and Flitwick Forum: Saturday 30 April 2022

Agenda for Ampthill-Flitwick Forum: 

Saturday 30 April 2022, 1pm food, 2-4pm business, The Swan Pub, 1 Dunstable Road, Flitwick, Bedfordshire MK45 1HP T: 01525 754777 E: steph@theswanflitwick.co.uk It is adjacent to the Thameslink served railway station and with ample parking and bus links too. https://www.swaninnflitwick.co.uk/menus/ Everyone is responsible to pay for their own food and drink.
 
1. Introduction and welcome by Chair of the Meeting
2, Apologies for absence
3. The pros and cons of an additional Wixams style station on the slow lines for Ampthill with foot-cycle access off of Froghall Road, motor and bus access from both Industrial Park entrance and from the west off Fordfield Road (linking A507 west with Steppingley and Flitwick West side of Midland Main Line for parking and foot/cycle access). See: https://www.bedfordindependent.co.uk/preferred-design-of-wixams-train-station-revealed-with-2024-completion-still-on-track/ For an idea of what a new station like Wixams could look like.
4. Local needs and issues: public transport, better access, footfall and spend, connectivity with elsewhere and equal spread of opportunities.
5. Environmental considerations: traffic versus wider journeys by public transport
6. Growth of development for the two towns and how that is best managed in terms of wider impacts
7. Commutes/commuters, landscape constraints and better links for cycling and buses between the two towns and principal others like Milton Keynes and Silsoe/Shefford A507 corridor?
8. Any other transport-related business.
9. Next steps: Forum facilitation, canvassing support for updated studies, Area Rep/Join ERTA and raise public support generally.
10. Date, time and place of next meeting, ideally in Ampthill
To help with leafleting or general enquiries contact either Mr David Ferguson –

E. daferguson1212@gmail.com Mr Simon Barber – E. simon4barber@gmail.com T. 0208 940 4399

Write in support of a new station to:

1. Ampthill Town Council: https://www.ampthilltowncouncil.org.uk/contact

2. Central Beds Council: https://www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/directory/14/a_to_z/B

3. MP for Mid Beds: Ms Nadine Dorries https://members.parliament.uk/member/1481/contact

https://www.ampthilltowncouncil.org.uk/council/categorised-document-archive?category=18

Please seek a skype meeting and sound out on station, a. any objections, b. what and why details, c. have they read the report and other stuff on our website? d. what are their solutions? e. Wixams example of twin track slow line station could be made to work and feed local buses more. f. If local buses go, rail is likely to be more permanent. g. Housing comes to A507 now, so immediate and wider commute/P&R possible. Safer cycle/walk to Engine and Tender Pub/High Street via Station Road and/or along bypass to The Parklands, all possible more for any so minded. Town centre about 10-20 minutes walk for most people. Connecting bus loop for wider area not impossible. h. Wider catchment, Flitwick is in a part valley, all lands built around, so expanding parking a capacity issue with growth including commuting to London from Marston Vale as well as access to Centre Parcs. i. These combinations makes me feel land protection, investment in studying further and supporting the aim, goal and principle is worthwhile courting support where it counts surely including a public survey? j. the putting Ampthill on the railway map would bring footfall and spend, more kudos to the location and boost options for residents in access terms. 

These pro-points should be born in mind surely/are they?

Support, join our loop and help us make progress: richard.erta@gmail.com

Ampthill delusions and exclusions! The saga for keeping options open remains our quest!

On the 2^nd March 2022 we received the notice of deliberations of the Ampthill Town Council regarding the station idea for the said town. It had a well-used station until 1959 and was closed due to economy more than usage. Population has doubled since then even locally and 20 years ago, when a study showed it could be done still, the objection was too far from the town centre! Now subsequent development has filled in the gaps so that it is continuous development between Town Centre and A507 former bypass onwards to the industrial estate. The town council’s views were:

·                    Ampthill is adequately served by Flitwick Station,

·                     Active travel and public transport links to Flitwick exist, and ATC’s priority is to support and work towards improving these,

·                     ATC is concerned about encroachment onto Greenbelt land beyond the mainline,

·                     Current railway development proposals (such as East West Rail) are towards fewer stations well supported by active travel and public transport links.  A proposal for a station at Ampthill is contrary to current trends and therefore not a good use of council time or investment.

·                     If you support the railway station lands being protected to keep the option open, the station idea being studied further and pursuit of reopening please write to:

1.Ampthill Town Council, Ampthill Town Council, Park Lodge, Ampthill Great Park, Woburn Street, Ampthill, MK45 2HX.

2. Central Beds Council, Priory House, Monks Walk, Chicksands, Shefford, Bedfordshire, SG17 5TQ 

3. For emails and elected councillors see websites: https://www.ampthill-tc.gov.uk/ and https://www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/directory/14/your_councillors/category/67

The ERTA Response:

1. Ampthill and Flitwick are close to each other, but that is not unique on the rail network. Luton and Luton Airport Parkway are just one local example.

2. The railway station at Ampthill would provide more capacity for rail usage, parking and riding which Flitwick, due to the fact the lands around it are all built up with non-railway development, cannot expand more. So as growth returns to the network post-pandemic, these issues and that of local aggravations through on-street parking will be exacerbated more.

3. Buses are being cut left, right and centre and are not a fixed asset. Whereas railways, especially a main line are more permanent notwithstanding a complete outburst of Government folly! The railway station, serving all south of Wixams, Marston Vale, Milton Keynes, M1-A507, Centre Parcs to the west and A6/Wrest Park/Silsoe to the east would serve about 15, 000 catchment, leaving Flitwick with an equivalent amount. People tend to drive south in the commute to London, as it saves fuel costs and gives drive-time which many value for time to themselves.

4. Land west of the Midland Main Line to Fordfield Road, was tabled as to be developed by 2030, so ideas of Greenbelt seem at odds with that intention? Relocating the Industrial Estate in part to the west with road access from the west, enables more and a station which could benefit all, not least year-round footfall, spend and visitorship as well as employee access minus land-use parking demands.

5. The comparison with possible proposals to close stations on the Bedford-Bletchley Railway as part of as plan by East-West Rail are hardly comparable with the spread of distance or demand for stations on the Midland Main Line served by Thameslink’s on the slow lines which could, at 4-5 each way per hour could be staggered in any case to ensure a good half hourly or thrice hourly frequency.