ERTA Ampthill-Flitwick Transport Forum and associated news and events.

ERTA Ampthill-Flitwick Transport Forum

~ Seeking an Ampthill Parkway Station and associated issues. ~

Saturday 11^th February 2023 1pm food*, 2-4pm business

Venue: The Swan Pub, 1 Dunstable Road,

Flitwick, Bedfordshire, MK45 1HP

T: 01525 754777 E: steph@theswanflitwick.co.uk https://www.swaninnflitwick.co.uk/

 

All Welcome.

 

Contact and convenor: Mr Simon Barber, 20 Fitzherbert House, Kingsmead, Richmond, Surrey, TW10 6HT T. 0208 940 4399 E. simon4barber@gmail.com

~ Everyone is responsible to pay for their own food and drink. ~

Background and now: This is your invite to our quarterly forum – be part of ensuring the adequacy of public transport capacity (rail), bus links and adequate lands for fostering more. Help us with shared ownership and responsibility. Triple stacking car parks solve one problem but create others. This in a context of growth of a 10-mile radius. Growth is inevitable whether on our own doorsteps or in a wider area contact beit Central Bedfordshire Unitary Council area or stretching from Milton Keynes/off the M1 to Marston Vale to Wixams arcingly and out to say the A6 Clophill/Silsoe sort of areas/A507 corridor. We have to give recognition that for many reasons people for London tend to drive south, saving money and drive-time to themselves for example. Wixams Station can deal with local residents accessing the local rail services, but will also have people bypassing Bedford Midland Railway Station (parking and congestion issues) and will land at Wixams to catch a commuter train to London or one of many destinations on that network. Also, a triple stack car park at Flitwick, will be courting a large and growing volume of traffic pitted at the twin roundabout single bridge linking east and west Flitwick, Tesco, the Station and other outlets. It is busy now, and what about better facilities for pedestrians and cyclists and denting car/vehicle dependency, the ambiance of the place, getting to/from Dunstable Road and much more? Is it being driven through as political expediency or is it being thought through as to how things will be in say 5-10 years’ time? ERTA believes the time has come to look at a new relief additional railway station on the industrial site at Ampthill. Ampthill and Flitwick would both gain with relief, sharing growth and the additional footfall, spend and visitorship such a gateway could usher in reviving local bus links and serving Woburn to Wrest Park and all in between including local schools and businesses. ERTA believe an Ampthill Parkway Station could be a win, win and therefore lands need protecting east and west of the site for a railway station. Studies need to be done and build the case with courting public support. Please join us and come to the forum, have your say, debate and work constructively for a more balanced picture in Central Mid Bedfordshire area.

Available on: https://ertarail.co.uk/publicity/ or via requests for the free pdf version via richard.erta@gmail.com

We (English Regional Transport Association/ERTA) have put together within our limited resources, to highlight some key issues which we believe are local debates around planning, development growth and conserving land-take, quality of life and ambiance. It is a fact that pollution from exposure to exhaust and tyre particles harms human respiratory and other health related issues: https://moderngov.kingston.gov.uk/documents/s21745/I_Vehicle%20Emissions_WG%20Report.pdf and https://blog.greenflag.com/2019/tyre-particles/ and https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/study-supports-link-between-traffic-related-air-pollution-and-mental-disorders Whether fossil fuel powered vehicles or electric vehicles (EVs) the one emits harmful gases to respiratory and causes other health related issues and evs of themselves may 'cure' that, but tyre particles causes harm and evs do not deal with unadulterated rising volumes of vehicle dependency and proliferation in the wake of large scale developments without alternative infrastructure like an Ampthill Parkway Railway Station may inform. To pretend otherwise is to put head-in-sand and we need to stop, think and do alternative approaches within respective powers and advocacies now. 

To keep the option of a fully working Ampthill Parkway Station, we need to:

1. Protect lands west- side of the Midland Main Line and north of Froghall Road for relocation of a few business units, parking and riding facilitation and an access road off Fordfield Road from A507 and to Centre Parcs within walking and cycling distance.

2. Club together to study the matter, make the case and court further support and funding. We need councils to be interested and supportive. We have been told lands west of Midland Main Line and north of Froghall Road Road are earmarked for housing by 2030 some time ago, so why not use this opportunity to ensure it is used for the rail-based development instead which will alleviate Flitwick and Ampthill whilst revolutionising visitorship on a sustainable basis? Greenbelt can be saved and conservation pocketed in designs more if we ensure the strategic public transport people actually use - rail and station access - is kept as and progressed as a viable option. 

3. Please appoint a liaison rep and send to our Ampthill-Flitwick Transport Forum to help us in deliberations and moving the matter forward please. We have an email loop specific to this matter and all are welcome to join it for liaison via requests to richard.erta@gmail.com Thank you.

The future can be brighter if we get this transport matter positively handled, if we block it, refuse it or scupper it amidst development of the wrong sort without public transport infrastructure, we harm the people we purport to serve and throw away an economic source of positive input. Please don't let that happen. 

As an addendum, Biggleswade is getting enhancement following many years of campaigning and will reap benefits from that. Likewise Flitwick Rail Station is secure and getting improvements, but is land locked to cater for a lot more regional growth, unless you triple stack parking. Few want that and the roads certainly will struggle with the volumes. Ampthill Parkway Station could share the growth load and balance things out more. That is both our conviction and aspiration and we welcome you to join us in it and invest for the medium term. Thank you.

Ampthill Flitwick Forum Notes from meeting at The Swan Pub, Dunstable Road, Flitwick, Bedfordshire MK45 1HP 1pm food, 2m business.

Present: Colin Crawford, Simon Barber, David Ferguson, Richard Pill and Mr Stephen Anderson, Center Parcs, Woburn Forest, Fordfield Road, Millbrook, Beds. MK45 2HZ.

1.     Apologies for absence: Ms Jodie Irwin, Principal Strategic Transport Officer, Place and Communities Directorate, Cllr James Jamieson, Leonard Lean. 

2.     View of Centre Parcs: They are reviewing sustainable travel issues and only a low percentage comes by public transport, most by cars/vehicles. The resort is back at pre-covid levels and a station at Ampthill with access west-side for Fordfield Road could be handy for workers and others visiting the centre, giving more options. It was suggested that an arcing bus from Milton Keynes Railway Station (West Coast Main Line) – Ridgmont (to be part of East-West Rail (Oxford-Bedford) and Flitwick (Thameslink/Midland Main Line to principal cities, airports and Eurostar could become a winner.

3.     The case for the new Ampthill Parkway Station: Ampthill is an important addendum attached to the area, but the Parkway Station would serve a much wider and diverse area. Currently commuters come to Flitwick from Milton Keynes, M1, A507, Marston Vale, Ampthill-Flitwick conurbations and out to the east to and from the A6 catchments. It was noted that people tend to London commute – drive southwards for private space and to save on cost. Thus 36, 000 South Bedford + 18, 000 upwards.

4.     Background and arguments:

Kempston would drive south to the new two-platformed Wixams Station, but all at Wixams and south would continue to Flitwick. Flitwick is land-development locked-in and so unless they triple stack the car park (blight) there is not a lot of expansion potential. Moreover, the increasing all-day volume of traffic centred on just one bridge spanning the railway is a major pinch-point and congestion in all directions with local residential conflict and objection will only get worse. The overall volume of traffic, station apart is up. It would be a nice thing to have a bridge zebra crossing to enable safer and easier access from station to The Swan Pub (accessibility) especially for disabled people. Current arrangements are lack-lustre and inadequate. In 2004 Ampthill Town Council paid for a outline pre-study by Scott Handley Partnership which indicated you could slot a station into the busy and frequent timetable. More Ampthill background can be found on our Publications site: https://ertarail.co.uk/publicity/

Wixams and Ampthill could coincide together without conflict as of 5 trains per hour, even twice hourly stopping at Ampthill would be a benefit and the London-Corby electric trains could also make a stop (a few). As for close proximity stations, Luton and Luton Airport Parkway are closer than Ampthill – Flitwick gap and a Thameslink Train at approximately 70mph took all of 37 second between old Ampthill site and Flitwick. If we add 5 minutes to calling at an Ampthill Parkway Station ‘all in’ do the gains as a relief station in a context of growth make that sacrifice worth it for greater gains on and off the railway? Ampthill has walking, cycling and bus + vehicle access/parking + kudos of being on the national railway map and the marketing potential of weekend breaks and visitorship close and easier is something for a wider area to benefit from surely? Woburn to the west, Wrest Park to the east.

5.     Taking it forward:

a.     Simon and Colin to have an exploratory meeting with Ms Jodie Irwin, Principal Strategic Transport Officer, Place and Communities Directorate and to try and see what scope for working with the council in taking it forward planning, case making, building support, bringing key land owners and others together to our forum meeting and/or elsewhere. Given we were told the Paddocks west of the Midland Main Line and North of Froghall Road were to be developed by 2030, time is running out to salvage a road link off Ford Field Road for the station, space for a 100 car park and exiting/access to the 2 slow line platforms (see Wixams model for detail of design) and possible relocation to the west for some immediate industrial outlets to enable east-side access to a small booking hall, ticketing booths and maybe a coffee lounge and toilet facility and maybe a click-send, click receive parcels facility?  

b.     Decided to meeting Flitwick the Swan Pub for time being. This and June 2023 date for next meeting would be reviewed by the Executive Committee. Ideally local people would warm and adopt the idea and advocate it informing a small team. Alas we do not have that, so more leafleting is required with a message which strikes the right tone.

c.      Colin and Simon to have a meeting with Cllr Mark Smith – Ampthill Town Councillor, Central Beds Councillor, Bedford Voluntary Bureau Officer and key orchestrator of objections to plans to development across Central Bedfordshire. The station would make any development – which is happening regardless of infrastructure now – more sustainable and manageable surely?

d.     Richard to produce a new flyer/pamphlet but needs help with Speed, Distance, Time Calculations/more volunteers generally. Meeting finished 14.40pm.

All enquiries via richard.erta@gmail.com Offers to help are welcome please. You don't have to be just a local either!

See our website publications page for more: https://ertarail.co.uk/publicity/ 

 

ERTA Updated Rail Reopenings Pamphlet March 2021

It is good news that places like Ashington, Stratford upon Avon and Okehampton are to get their railway restored and a smattering of reopened or new stations as well. This is progress in the right direction. Still a long way to go. As with our sister organisation Railfuture, we take some of the kudos for ushering the agenda along over the years and indeed predecessors to ERTA organisation, decades. 

We are led to believe we face a Climate Emergency and so a need to cut fossil fuel burning, exhaust and tyre friction on hard surfaces is essential to lower public respiratory illness and premature death as well as cutting greenhouse gases which erode the atmosphere and creates conditions against human and wildlife habitat.

In 1993 I was at a UN Conference in Manchester where we marked the occasion of the calculated crossing of a threshold from a predominantly rural planet to a majoritively urban planet and 30 years on, we are seeing that worked out with bombardments of development, but with stretched resources, high demand and land use being a premium and scarce resource. Infrastructure has mainly been the presumption of roads and road vehicles, even public transport, whereas historically, we need to rectify the rail deficit for passenger and freight. See: Rio 92: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Conference_on_Sustainable_Development.

ERTA continues to push for route protection, reopenings, rebuilds and choice for public transport users. A development of 500 houses at 2.5 cars per household means 1500 extra vehicles per day on local roads. So the issues abound. We do need more volunteers to take responsibility and help us reliably enable more to be done on the right lines! Thank you.

Copies pdf free via richard.erta@gmail.com

All aboard the Flitwick vanity trip! Reopen Ampthill Railway Station for relief.

The reality is that Flitwick is about 10 miles south of Bedford Midland Station on the Midland Main Line and a 10 mile arc at least, draws a load of people from outside Flitwick including Milton Keynes overflow, M1 via A507, Marston Vale extensive new developments and Wixams all commute by driving south and catching a train. That arc east-west of some 15 miles won't want to drive along the busy A421 to Wixams but go south, saving fuel and rail costs to Flitwick for Thameslink to the City of London et al. ONLY an Ampthill Station can give the land-use capacity needed to ensure the long term relief to Flitwick and Ampthill of being a large on-street car park for non residents. Central Bedfordshire Council are opportunist and head in sand if they believe anything different. 10 years growth will render current development plans inadequate and besides Flitwick has not got the road layout for peak time overflow of traffic. Bypassing from Westoning to A507 east of Flitwick for A6 access via Clophill may be something to consider, but if infill housing to Greenfield goes in, then a bypass is scuppered locking-in the congestion and single bridge concentrate. 

http://www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/news/april/flitwick-regeneration.aspx

See also and join us: https://www.facebook.com/ReopenAmpthill/

ERTA is the successor to BRTA. We have updated and changed our contact details, posted below this email. Please update your records accordingly. 

Those keen on an Ampthill Station can follow these links:

https://www.facebook.com/ReopenAmpthill/

https://plus.google.com/u/0/+ERTAAmpthillStation

https://twitter.com/ReopenStations

We very much welcome any support. Main website is: https://ertarail.com/ampthill/

Please follow the links, supporting does not have to be heavy or a chore, but many hands make light of hard work. The campaign can be successful, but it needs local people willing to come forward and to team up. Meanwhile if you wish to be on this list the email is ampthillstationreopen.brta@gmail.com In any case we will keep people updated if anything turns up.  Ourrichard.erta@gmail.com is the main email address and all on it get our pdf electronic newsletter.

Many thanks. If you don't wish to be on any email, let us know, ideally sending original email to help us locate you. 

Please do feel to pass on to friends and all are welcome to our meetings for liaison, interest and networking opportunities. Thank you.

Bedford Borough Plan - where's the rail infrastructure?

There is a consultation in the Harpur Centre on the Bedford Local Plan 2035. See www.bedford.gov.uk/localplan2035. Email: planningforthefuture@bedford.gov.uk 
Check those houses at Bromham and relation to a clear access for Cobbler Line trajectory. 
Closing date is 9th June.
Questions via 01234 718300. Things we want is as follows:
a. Station at Oakley north of Lower Farm Road.
b. Retail Park Station on the MVR not MML!
c. East-West Rail sooner than later with Bedford-Sandy being delivered same time as Oxford-Bedford ideally - what are we getting for £10 million allocated?
d. All build results in road saturation and progressive gridlock. Same style houses being rolled out Bedford, Northampton, Milton Keynes, Cambridge... this results in ever more cloning of towns/residential estate areas.
e. Unless there's a more focused and coherent plan for the rail projects a-c by 2035 not after 2035, we will have a short fall of footfall and spend, informing closed shop syndrome and spiraling diminishment of traditional town centres, more out of town pressure to pander to the car. Empty properties abound domestic and commercial and more directives to fill and amend those first before green field expansion should be looked at.
f. Bedford-Northampton should be progressed with East-West not addendum to it/afterthought.
g. Network Rail must be flexible on level crossing and bridge adaptations, Cardington Road Bedford and Bridge Street Northampton need rail accessibility to be retained.
h. Wixams and/or Ampthill should be pursued together or incrementally, both serve differential markets - Wixams declutters commuting into Bedford for rail, Ampthill declutters Flitwick off the M1/A507 and all south of Wixams e.g. Marston Moretaine/A421 development corridor.

Flying Pigs Need Earthing!

Reflection and appeal: Northampton-Olney-Bedford would enable Northampton-Cambridge and Northampton-Luton Airport direct by rail and Olney too. This would revolutionise public transport in the area as buses could link in with a new Olney rail station. For that to happen, ambitions to extend Olney north on adjacent fields need to be curtailed and attention needs to be given to mop and disinfect the towns bus shelter opposite the dilapidated Bull Hotel stop adjacent to the market. 
It's basics upwards and bread and butter downwards which needs to be looked at not series of rounds of discussions with speculative development in mind. The case for reopening this rail link is beginning to be appreciated at a higher level and grassroots like town councils and their leaders can show some interest and work with us to implement the Handley alignment. 
Then development can be tailored, including more parking for the town as it is a continuous flow of traffic along the A509, a bypass would be the death-knell but a lack of parking and the traffic which does not stop causes considerable aggravation and delay. 
The railway would be a boost to Olney and inform regular flows of footfall and spend, sustaining local businesses and helping relieve congestion. Win, win, is why we need to work together to save the old trackbed and keep the route open for the new, so options are kept open and not have a mindset of development solves problems, it doesn't without sustainable fixed infrastructure link a Northampton-Olney-Bedford rail link would be. 
Join us and help us, help the cause for better public transport. Giving choice and freedom for all ages and pockets.
http://www.northamptonez.co.uk/news/new-infrastructure-on-northamptons-horizon/