Graham Ellis - my blog
Site updates
I have updated a number of web sites - adding "https" security and making them lay out better on mobile devices.
The "top level" sites of interest here ...
• Friends of Melksham Assembly Hall - https://www.fomah.org.uk
• Melksham Environement Group - https://www.mkmeg.org.uk
• My Councillor Page - https://grahamellis.uk
• The Well House Collection - https://www.twhc.org.uk
and sitting in the background I have also updated
• "sn12.net" - our home
• and our image library
Further work remains to be done on my public transport interest sites which will follow in due course.
The "top level" sites of interest here ...
• Friends of Melksham Assembly Hall - https://www.fomah.org.uk
• Melksham Environement Group - https://www.mkmeg.org.uk
• My Councillor Page - https://grahamellis.uk
• The Well House Collection - https://www.twhc.org.uk
and sitting in the background I have also updated
• "sn12.net" - our home
• and our image library
Further work remains to be done on my public transport interest sites which will follow in due course.
"Restore Your Railways" cancelled – thoughts
Question: "Should I sign the Campaign for Better Transport petition" (to re-instate the scheme)
A complex question right across the UK, and an area in which I seem to have acquired a useful knowelege. Jump to ((here)) towards the tail of the article to see specific schemes in Wiltshire and with Melksham line highlights.
Background
Looking back a few years, schemes and desires for enhanced railway infrastructure provision faced a high hurdle to even get off the ground. There was no funding available for that initial step - the asking of "is this a good idea?" and getting it to towards the "shovel ready" stage for when a major funding opportunity came up to implement a good scheme.
The "Restore Your Railways" program of the previous government filled this hole, and has allowed a large number of schemes to be tested, some of which have gone forward. The Campaign for Better Transport tells us that the fund has already oiled the gears so they could turn and allowed the reopening of two railway lines and seven new stations ... BUT ...
Current Status
The scheme was a Conservative one, with (as I recall) a cutoff date for completion about now, and encouraged quite a few applications that were far more about supporting the local MPs, who had to sign off on the application, and failed the test of whether they would be cost effective and result in a better railway if implemented; everyone thinks their scheme is best.
So the new government was / is faced with a scheme under which a number of quick wins had been taken, and had - if it had carried on - the danger of generating a great deal of disappointment in quite a number of constituencies which were previously held by a Conservative MP but are now Labour or Lib Dem.
Wielding the knife isn't about saving money in spite of what you are told - it's about fixing what could have been a festering wound or a ongoing wounds in marginal constituencies for many years.
I can understand Labour taking a decision to close the scheme. It has a logic.
Intermission - concerns at RYR and its termination
Cutting the scheme with business underway has lead to howls of anguish from schemes on the cusp. Until they know whether they continue or fall, that concern is natural and there is quite a degree of input being made to clarify the very messy and unfortunate cutoff.
I am also concerned at the lack of reference in the Labour party's 26 page plan for rail that talks of reliability of the network - that bit is correct - but does not cover appropriate service level, nor anything in network enhancement. Indeed I see nothing that commits to retaining current frequencies and does not rule out line and station closures. Historically, many lines were closed under Labour.
And the whole "Restore You Railway" name worried me - "Restore" has a historic feel and reference back to Beeching was not forward looking - it should be "Future" railway. For sure, experiences of the past count and provide evidence and infrastructure and undeveloped pathways for new railway lines but what we need is future not past, and a future world where we look at one UK network and not a network created by a mess of competing companies - Midland, Great Northern and Great Central all along the same valley. And we look to modern technology where a railway no longer needs to run along a route that is billiard table flat but can climb dip as, for example, HS1 to the channel tunnel does.
And look at the second word "Your" - is that the previous government not including itself but rather looking to be at arms length? For some, the communities need to be involved and wanting the public transport enhancement, but they also want and need the involvement of government.
Can I question "Railway"? Sure I can. Railway - or metro or light rail or tramway, or underground or subway, please, and the term railway suggests heavy rail when there may be other solutions.
The Route forward
I am asked to sign a petition from the Campaign for Better Transport (CBT). ""We're calling on the Government to reconsider its decision and to implement a nationwide programme of rail re-openings to help grow the network and bring all communities within reach of the railway and the benefits that provides. ""
I read that very carefully, and I am much more encouraged to sign than I would be to sign a simple "Bring back RYR". This is a request to do better - looking to the future for the benefit of communities. Having a route for schemes to be "triaged" prior to very expensive and detailed work, fitting into a national policy with local tuning, makes sense. For all we know, the government might already be looking at this - or cynically they might look to bring it in later in the parliament as good news prior to the 2029 general election.If you want a name - "Our Future Rail".
We need a scheme that has national guidelines and works with and enables what's needed for the next decades. And that includes NPPF, local and neighbourhood plan considerations as well as operational rail stuff. We need a scheme that tests ideas - initially "cheaply" (ha, ha) and allows elements to be fed back, updated and cycled "quickly" (ha, ha). If found justified to be fed into a program of such development with a professional implementation team doing one project after another, with skills carried over and setup and breakdown costs saved, and a tail of experts who have moved on to the next project callable back to snag the running job.
I've not talked volume. I've not talked GRIP or STAG. And I don't know what the government has in mind to replace RYR. In my view, it needs something to avoid the current system simply stagnating. And reading the Campaign for Better Transport's request for signatures carefully, yes, I can add mine. But adding a signature is just one drip in a flood of requests that need to be made as we shape our future railway. Read the Labour papers carefully, and they fit a model that provides a more reliable service of less frequent and slower trains than we have at present, on a reduced network. We need a better railway, but that model is not my description of it!
From a Wiltshire perspective
A new scheme with a level playing field makes sense. We have lost out by comparison to other counties over a very long period indeed - our last brand new station was in 1937 - that's Dilton Marsh. Melksham station was re-opened in 1985 after being closed for 19 years.
From memory, aspirations over the years, with various degrees of seriousness, have included and perhaps still do: Box; Bradford North to West curve; Corsham; Devizes Gateway; Gablecross; Holt; Hullavington; Petersfinger; Porton; Royal Wootton Bassett; Staverton Junction; Thingley / West Chippenham; Tramway from Salisbury Station to City Centre; White Horse Business Park; Wilton; Wylye Parkway.
And schemes short of new stations and section of line might include: Accessibility between platforms at Trowbridge; Double track through Tisbury or loop into stations there; Electrification schemes for virtually every line in the county; Loop or double track via Melksham; Platforms 1 and 5 at Salisbury; Platform 0 at Westbury; Signalling interval on Avon Valley; Signalling interval on Wylye Valley
Bold items relate to the Swindon - Chippenham - Melksham - Trowbridge - Westbury line.
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Published Thursday, 22nd August 2024
FULL Melksham Town Council - meeting report
At last night's full Town Council meeting (19.8.2024), a decision was taken to have Town Council meetings streamed live on both Facebook and YouTube if practical, or at least streamed on one and shared to the other if it's not. Good - YouTube has a more practical system for going back through old recordings to find things; a welcome move. The popularity of the Facebook feed has been noted, even though there's just usually just a very few people on the "parent" Zoom feed - probably in part because people want to remain anonymous.Also last night, the meeting calendar was recast with full council reduced to just one public meeting every 2 months - so I have just four meetings left on 23rd September, 25th November, 27th January and 31st March. There will be (I have a date already for one) be a number of "Task and Finish Group" meetings to which all councillors are invited - less formal affairs which are not held in public and where we can be more relaxed and less posturing in what we say.
Economic Development and Planning Committee meetings carry on at 3 week intervals - a dozen of those to go, and my personal orbit of interest - the agenda for nest week's should be published today and include two items at my request - for us to consider responding to the LWCIP (local walking and cycling infrastructure plan) consultation I flagged up in late July, and for the council to write to Great Western Railway and the rail minister officially to express concern at the damage being done by the current shocking unreliability of the train service. "Econ Dev" is also the vehicle through which Neighbourhood Plan updates come to council.
Asset Management and Amenities also now meet every 2 months - 5 to go for me, with Finance, Admin and Performance, and Community Development, both at the same frequency; I can attend these if I wish.
From our Unitary Councillors, Jon Hubbard reported that Wiltshire Council have made a prudent saving of £4.5 million that they will spend on fixing potholes, and Mike Sankey reported that the fixed fine for Graffiti is to rise to £500 - the "maximum allowed"
Mike also reported on the Eastern Relief Road. He confirmed that it's opening is not being held up by the contractor's compound on the road - rather it is being delayed until the puffin crossing is complete and working, the road is surfaced, snd the appropriate speed enforcement order and signs are in place. As a member of the public, I find myself wondering why on earth these three things have not been able to be done at the same time as the roundabout has been waiting and done.
Discussion on East of Melksham Village / Community Hall, which the council asked the clerk to put in via the architect for planning permission in November 2023. It appears that the architect came back with questions which haven't been answered, so although Town Councillors had been told we had submitted the application it hasn't yet reached Wiltshire Council. This came to light last night, and now that she's aware of it our Locum Clerk should be able to get things moving. Shame about the 9 months lost on this project.
The proposal by The Mayor to move his reception outside, and make it much more of a community event, free to attend and with a budget of £15,000 was discussed. However, it was felt that an outdoor event in March, with vagaries of weather and the challenged of presentations and guest of other mayors in the open and in the twilight was a significant risk, and on the advice of the four former mayors present (and the rest of us) the decision was taken to stay indoors (at around £2,000, with guests paying to attend) and looking to budget for a outdoor event in the late spring or high summer.
The EcoLoos in the park are to be plumbed in. Contrary to the agenda which did not include it, there will be a sink with running water (preferentially hot as well as cold).
This Town Council has got itself into the habit of what I might describe as "micromanaging" its staff. We employ professionals and then at times require them to come to council for operational decisions which they are far more qualified to make than we councillors. A classic example last night where we were asked to approve the appointment for a couple of weeks of an extra pair of knowledgable hands to support the writing of our grant request to the Wiltshire Towns ActivityGrant Program. Some of the things we discuss are madness. Which lawnmower should we buy - and you have half a dozen councillors looking at a catalogue, when we employ the people who know what they need and have the budget for it. The absurd situation we've been in perhaps comes from a lack of trust in the staff team as it used to be, but we need to move on and I'm delighted that we strongly spoke in support of the clerk, and through her the team of staff, making use of delegated powers for day to day and minor decisions.
Notable in their absence from this month's full council meeting were the LWCIP (though I am being allowed this next week), the Neighbourhood Plan (currently in a consultation period snd so perhaps in a waiting mode), the recruitment of staff (applications for Deputy Clerk and Event Manager closed a couple of weeks ago) and anything on the Assembly Hall and Blue Pool.
Published Tuesday, 20th August 2024
Looking forward - public and sustainable transport
0.1 - Introduction
I am looking forward. This update is a newsletter for people in the Melksham area on public transport - looking at what has been achieved in recent years, and what is planned, proposed, possible for the next years. I am someone who has been personally involved with promoting service modernisation and improvement for nearly 20 years, and in doing so taking on a strong technical knowledge, I am asking you to indulge me in seeing some personal plans in here as I am very much looking forward to continuing that promotional role over coming years.We have a job that is started but not finished - a lot has been achieved but there is a lot more to do. And we are at a time of both great opportunity and great risk - an opportunity for further development for the benefit of our communities, but also a risk of loosing the spotlight and any investment to help bring our public and sustainable transport provision even up to the level of neighbouring towns and examples from further afield, some of which show us how it could be done.
A beautiful day here in Melksham and look what has been achieved
1.1. Buses up
1.2. Trains up
1.3. Better Station and bus stops
1.4. Better fares
And in other news in strategy for the future
2.1. Bus plans
2.2. Network Rail report
2.3. TWCIP being considered
2.4. A growing town
Looking ahead on a more personal / closer to home side
3.1. Rejoined the board of TravelWatch SouthWest
3.2. Server Moves
3.3. Modernisation of Coffee Shop (responsive and https)
3.4. Ability to rejoin TransWilts as a member
Ongoing national proposals
4.1. This governments direction for public transport
4.2. Great British Railways, nationalisation and restructure
4.3. Bus service futures
4.4. A railway for the future
Ongoing proposals in our area
5.1. Running clock face (Hourly) Trains
5.2. Evening buses all week everywhere
5.3. Bus and walking links to station
5.4. More passenger-welcoming NaPTANs
5.5. Melksham Public Transport User Group
5.6. We need to sort out cycling and walking updates
And in conclusion
6.1. Conculsion
6.2. Next Steps
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1. A beautiful day here in Melksham and look what has been achieved
1.1 Buses up
Sunday buses up from 44 departures (and arrivals back) to 2 destinations last September to 200 departures (and arrivals back) to 2 destinations this September. Improvements too to services from Bradford-on-Avon with a late afternoon bus back now where previously the last bus was just after lunch time.
Over the years, there have been many threats to the local bus service and some losses - most deeply felt the evening buses to and from Chippenham and Trowbridge, and almost all services on town route 15 to East Melksham - pre-covid hourly, but now just a single service at 12:06 from The Bear. Some may be valid service modernisations, and some are to be regretted but it could have been so much worse if the 50% or greater cut in funding proposed in 2016 had gone ahead. As it was, we campaigned hard at Option 24/7 to maintain bus support - successfully - and with a particular emphasis on weekend and evening services. And, yes, the evening bus services on route 273 between Bath and Devizes survive and are busy - all be it with a very long gap mid-evening.
1.2 Trains up
We now have 118 trains per week calling at Melksham, versus 26 at the start of the last decade. And passenger numbers on individual trains are now in excess of the numbers that travelled to or from Melksham in an entire week in those days. Make no mistake - we have moved from a virtually useless service to one that is still poor (even when it runs - there is a major reliability issue) and there is a long way to go.As from last summer, the final major gap in being able to call the service "all day, every day" was filled, with addition of evening trains on a Saturday in winter, and a late evening service on Mondays to Fridays throughout the year.
The graphic attached shows the growth in Melksham Passenger numbers from 2006 to 2023. I have taken the liberty of shading the period that I was Community Rail Officer for the line in yellow - I'm proud to have been a part of that growth; the pink section since my reluctant departure was hit by covid, and also perhaps reflects the redirection of community rail away from general traffic promotion of current services. At one time, it was cheaper to buy a Melksham to Bristol ticket than one from Trowbridge and Bradford-on-Avon, and our journey numbers were artificially inflated. I have shaded the journey columns sections to represent these tickets from Melksham sold but never used here.
1.3 Better Station and bus stops
A decade ago, there was just a short platform at Melksham - enough for a single carriage train, with a small "bus stop" style waiting shelter. There were six car parking spaces just outside. Longer trains could call, but if they did all passenger had to / from Melksham had to use a single door - not a problem while passenger numbers were so abysmal.
We now have a platform which takes the full length of a train up to 3 carriages and has extra safety elements such as a yellow line. We have a larger waiting shelter, a ticket vending machine, a covered bicycle area, more seating, a CCTV system, a "next train" display and additional information displays. The car parking spaces are now designated for pick up and drop off only, and just across the station forecourt is a public (paid) car park now run by Wiltshire Council with around 50 spaces. Signage to and from the station has been much improved.
There are over 100 bus stops in Melksham, ranging from those with no regular service at all such as the one at the railway station though the minimal service at some of 5 per week through to the Market Place bus stop which I estimate has around 360 services a week leaving on 9 routes (14, x34, 68, 69 to Corsham, 69 to Trowbridge, x69, 271, 272 and 273). Some bus stops have been improved over the years, and I welcome the first real time bus display which has been installed at Mitchell Drive in Bowerhill, with a promise of more at the two busiest stops in the Town Centre
1.4 Better (lower) fares
On the buses, the single fare of £6.50 to Bath is currently replaced by the £2 flat fare introduced by the previous government and promised to run until December.
On the trains, GWR introduced "via Melksham" fares that help encourage the use of our line by through passengers, and some of those fares give reductions to and from Melksham too. With the provision of off peak trains, day returns are now practical at a fraction of what they would previously have cost during the week.
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2. And in other news in strategy for the future
2.1 Bus plans
The Sunday services to Chippenham and to Trowbridge restarted (after many years) in the Spring, and the Sunday service to Bath and Devizes becomes hourly from 1st September. Good. Real time display at a handful of busy stops will be arriving in the next few weeks. What else is needed?
On existing routes, evening services to and from Chippenham and Trowbridge would be welcome. And there are many requests for the return of the extra penultimate service from Bath to Melksham which we lost at the start of Covid when First Bus pulled out; the 21:05 is described by many as "too early" and the 23:15 (to become 23:20 on Saturdays) as "too late". Difficult to do in a cost effective manner, but need noted.
Melksham was reduced from a town with a two vehicle "Town Service" in 2020 to a single vehicle service as a "temporary measure" but that reduction has become permanent, with the single vehicle and single driver shift doing school runs and trying to service everything else in between, none of which encourages many passengers except those who have no option but to use it. Some parts of Melksham only have one or two buses a day now, and there are other anachonisms.
We need a second vehicle to service the town, and after 4 years gap that could and should reflect the needs of the future rather than slavishly duplicating what it did in 2019.
Logic is for a new Town service - christened "16" - to run from the Railway Station just after the train has called to the Town Centre, and out along Sandridge Road to the edge of town, then along the eastern relief road to The Spa and up to Bowerhill, serving the business area there before heading out to the Police station on Semington Road and some journeys on to Holbrook Vale. Return by the same route, arriving at the station a few minutes before the train calls so providing connection / interchange facilities and scope for a personal needs break for the driver. This route is close to the one we tested in real life in September 2022 with the electric bus hired for the day. The existing town service - route 14 with it's multiple variation to take everyone on in, including a couple of runs designated "15" can then be updated to take out variants through areas served by the 16, and provide a more thorough service that's of much more use to many people and not just those who have had no choice but use it. It is instructive to look at the town bus in Devizes - a smaller town but with two vehicles - and see how busy they are!
Melksham's buses have been diesel powered for many years. Although greatly improved of late, that makes them noisy, smelly, rattly, and not good on a sustainability front. Alternative power, such as electricity (but hydrogen talked about) has become much more practical of late, and companies like The Big Lemon who we visited in Brighton 3 years ago are now operating as close as Bath, with electric buses coming with Go-ahead to Salisbury soon. Here in Melksham as across other Wiltshire Towns, contracts were re-let for four years for Town buses based on price once a basic standard was met, and that meant that bids that included electric operation did not win, as the operators proposing them had to recuperate the extra costs of setup over just 48 months. Had the contracts been 8 years, or sustainabitly and zero carbon been an evaluation factor, the outcome might have been different. There is, though, huge sense in looking at the model for route 16 and making that an electric operation.
2.2 Network Rail report and rail plans
The railway line through Melksham is a single track and it takes (realistically) 20 minutes for a train to pass through and for the line to be set up for one coming the other way. There is a significant amount of freight traffic on the line (which often runs early or late), there are often diverted mainline trains coming through, and there is nowhere at either end of the single line for trains to wait without getting in the way of other services. So the current passenger service of a train every couple of hours each way is about the most than can be managed, and even that is a nightmare to plan and operate, especially on disrupted days. However, an appropriate service for Melksham is an hourly service. That's not only for Melksham itself but also through passenger from Swindon and Chippenham to Trowbridge and Westbury, who make up two thirds of the passengers on the train.
The draft Network Rail report "Wiltshire Rail Strategic Study", 72 page draft of July 2024, analyses the best case improvement from a whole series as stepping up to an hourly service each way from Swindon to Frome, and a part of the benefit is the service increase at Melksham. To achieve this, extra capacity would be required on the line, and the report suggests officially (as we have for many years) that a loop to allow trains to pass each other at or near Melksham would make sense. The report also highlights the need to restore the 4th platform at Westbury which was taken out of use in 1984; these days, the lack of that platform with the greatly increased train frequency seems to mean that more often than not, trains have to slow or wait as they approach.
The Network Rail document also considers ahead - looking at the sensible step of electrifying from Cocklebury Lane, Chippenham via Westbury and Frome to the Mendip quarries for both freight and passenger operation. It all makes sense, but in coming years will need encouragement for it to be taken forward and actually implemented.
2.3 LWCIP being considered
There is a current ongoing consultation on the Local Walking and Cycling Infrastructure Plan for Melksham, envisaging how road and footpaths can be improved to make them more friendly. Background work done by Wiltshire Council and their consultants, resulting in a 75 page report that is out for consultation until 6th September.
Many of the suggestions in the LWCIP make sense, and much backup evidence is provided. However, much of the evidence is historic and dates back to the 2011 census and many of the walking and cycling flows have changed since then, with the secondary school now on the road to Devizes not the road to Bath, with station users up from 3,000 per annum to 75,000 and with extra housing built to the east of the town, on the old school site, and off the old Semington Road. Some informed data IS much more current, but the data that would lead to suggestion of improving facilities for flows that are no longer there should, perhaps, have been excluded. Data from Priority for People, the 2021 survey by the Town Council, could usefully inform the LWCIP process and, I will admit, I am unclear as to the stages to be taken in implementing the plan - the report is financed, but (I would suggest) not the interventions it suggests.
Melksham is one of the longest established towns in Wiltshire, and a number of our streets near the centre date back to the days of the horse, cart and stagecoach. Where that was all the traffic that had to pass through the narrows between oft-listed buildings, these days to that mixture we need to add lorries, buses, delivery vehicles and private cars, and bicycles, scooters and mobility chairs - squeezing a quart into a pint pot. Many of these modern vehicles are much faster than the stagecoach, and they're there in far greater numbers than in bygone times with Melksham being so much larger than it was. Spa Road, from the Market Place to Melksham Hospital is a particular accident black spot.
Melksham Without Parish Council have done a thorough review of the draft LCWIP which they took to their council on 29th July, and I commend to you. At Melksham Town Council, I don't think we have any staff or councillors with the technical knowledge or time to do such a detailed review and subject to a read through over coming days I am going to propose that we endorse their commentary which in a brief overview looks appropriate. See also the Joint Melksham Neighbourhood Plan II (2020-2038) - 130 pages, consultation closes 22nd August - see below.
2.4 A growing town
The population of the Melksham area is around 26,000, up from 12,000 in 1951 and 22,000 in 2011. We might anticipate further growth to somewhere between 30,000 and 40,000 over the next 15 years - these numbers thrown into recent doubt by the requirement by the new government to build substantial extra housing in the county. We are working under the NPPF (National Planning Policy Framework), The Wiltshire Core Strategy (next version the "Local Plan") and the Neighbourhood plan - made in 2022 and with a new version going to local referendum in the next 6 months to a year.
With a growing town, and with changing provision, public, sustainable and private transport all needs to develop to keep pace with, and indeed be ahead of, demand. In many ways, the growth of the town is the friend of public transport as it boosts the economic case for a more frequent service which, when run, encourages more people to use it because of its very frequency. You can see elements of this change if you look back at recent years too, with Melksham's train and bus services (with the exception of the travesty of the Town Bus cuts and the failure to link road and rail) having blossomed so much in recent years - and there will be more to follow
Housing Growth proposed by Wiltshire Council in the local plan, and other sensitive areas that are potentials if government requires more homes be built, are all away from the Town Centre and railway, but just to the side of the proposed "route 16" bus for which a case can me made even before anything is built. Proposals in the Neighbourhood Plan are for "brownfield" site housing on the former Cooper Tires site and the old Library site, both of which are in closely adjoining existing public transport routes / flows that are covered elsewhere in this document. The final Neighbourhood Plan site to south of Melksham is not so well suited for public transport, but I note that access is via Pathfinder Way, with good bus services to the Town and to Bath and Devizes, and on the proposed town bus route 16 too which will take new residents to the railway station.
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3. Looking ahead on a more personal / closer to home side
3.1 Rejoined the board of TravelWatch SouthWest
TravelWatch SouthWest (TWSW) is a coordinating CIC of volunteer technical experts who provide updates to and an interface between User and specialist interest groups, and financial management and operational staff in the Transport Industry and local and national government. Twice a year, a general meeting across the SouthWest gives member groups and industry experts a chance to update their knowledge and to network, and other seminars, papers meetings and advise between meetings helps inform people across the sectors in a field where co-operative informing is patchy. TWSW helps bridge the knowledge gap between the use and the provider.
BC (Before Covid) I was a member of the TWSW board - a group of lovely people who really know their transport stuff. I was out of place with my lack of knowledge, unable to contribute much and asking silly questions, and stood down, which gave an opportunity to another fantastic expert to join the board, and gave me some more time for other activities such as local ones in Melksham.
With one of the experts, sadly, retiring from TWSW with immediate effect, I have been invited back onto the board through co-option and will stand again more formally for a three year term in December. I still know a lot less than the rest, but I am in a position to be able to help fill a press, publicity and liaison role and helping with web presence, and also helping inform the very future of TWSW which runs on a very small budget provided by Transport Operators such as those who are loosing their franchises / contracts under new government plans.
3.2 Server and system moves
The web server that I use for much of what I do is based with a Web Service Provider, and has been around for ages. It's being switched off at the end of this month, and I am in the process of moving lots of stuff around - 2 weeks to go before the deadline.
My Facebook account was over-secured to JelliaJamb and cutting a long story short you will find a new personal profile at https://www.facebook.com/graham.ellis.melksham/ - please contact me though there and re-established friendships welcomed.
I am not campaigning for re-election to Melksham Town Council next Spring and when I leave the Council I will no longer have my official email address there - so I am encouraging people who share my wider interest to use graham@sn12.net please.
Lisa and I are upgrading our home internet provision over the next few days. In theory it is straightforward. In practice, issues sometimes crop up with such things. Status page ... http://status.sn12.net ... if you lose me or servers.
3.3 Modernisation of Coffee Shop (responsive and https)
I founded the Great Western "Coffee Shop" forum in January 2007. Using Open Source software, I was expecting it to run - at most - for 18 months. But here we are, now in our 18th year and whilst it's not as busy as it used to be, we still had nearly 1,200 new posts last month and it remains a key community http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/index.html tool with passengers, campaigners, rail advocates and staff all sharing thought and information from London through the Thames Valley, the South West and South Wales. We have a team of a dozen administrators and moderators but, truth be told, the members usually keep themselves very much in order and we have little to do.
Whilst the need for the "Coffee Shop" to provide a passenger forum over the years has not really changed, how people wish to access it has. Rather than accessing from a laptop computer which was how things were done 18 years ago, we now have a wide variety of devices of all sort of shapes and sizes. Rather than use an http protocol, members would prefer the more secure https (s for secure) even though we collect no personal data. And rather than including cookie consent in the forum terms and conditions, members would prefer a separate pop-up.
The software we use - Simple Machines - uses PHP version 4, but we're now up to version 8 and we should really switch. However, it is not 100% compatible with some older syntaxes being deprecated from one version to the next, and then removed. We can't easily switch, though, because we have tailored the version we run over time - never expecting to be around in 2010, let alone 2024!
Much work to be done. I'm still quite happy to do much of this work - very much the technology through which I earned my living for the largest part of my working life and still fun, but it takes a lot of time.
3.4 Ability to rejoin TransWilts as a member
If you hold more that 1% of the share of a business that operates in premises in the Parish, it's regarded as a pecuniary interest. As one of just less than 60 "members" of the TransWilts CIC, I held 1.75% of the shares - £1 invested and with a liability of £1 if they went bust, and as a CIC no intent of making a profit for shareholders. So when the hub cafe opened, I gave up my membership to let me speak on TransWilts matters at council. With the hub cafe now closed and lease released, I can now apply to rejoin TransWilts and I am inclined to do so though I would not expect to take much (if any) of a role.
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4. Ongoing national proposals
4.1 This governments direction for public transport
Scroll down for rail and bus individually ... there is a desire for a uniform reliability and provision at minimal cost to the taxpayer, but at same time giving control of operations locally which may lead to a lack of uniformity - a postcode lottery of services?
4.2 Great British Railways, nationalisation and restructure
The King's Speech included the bill to "Nationalise the railways" and provide a legal basis for Great British Railways. The restructure may be important, but at this point it's something of an enabler and we'll need to wait and see how the things that have been enabled are done.
There is an element of dogma and popularism in "Nationalisation" - much is already nationalised, and much will remain in private hands. I'm pretty sure that most trains will remain privately owned by the likes of Porterbrook, Eversholt and Angel Trains - companies which most of you will never have heard off, themselves owned by banks and big multi-nationals, and around a third of your fare goes on train hire. And the government seems to be encouraging open access train operation, which is private sector trains on the national network; scope for the nationalised service to be reduced to a basic service and then have the private sector provide the rest? Here in Melksham, our current train service is broken at the weekend and the strategy openly talk of / allows and plans for a potential open access operator on the line.
In the last few days, the government has settled the industrial dispute for more money with the train drivers that's been ongoing for 3 years, with around 20 days of strikes. Statements are that it may be costing £100 million to settle, but that must be balanced against £1 billion of damage done by the strikes. But within days we are seeing other rail staff saying "we want that same deal" and some of the drivers (LNER and not GWR) calling more strikes in a separate dispute, with a strong expectation that the government - who run LNER - will acceed to their demands / requests.
4.3 Bus service futures
The government plans to allow much more franchising by local authorities, which seems very much the opposite of ceasing franchising on the railways. And allow locsl authorities to set up their own bus operations in the future?
Certainly the plans for doing better than leaving things to purely market forces then buying in extras that no-one wants to provide commercially make some sense. Just the other week, I took the Swanage bus from Weymouth. An average frequency of an hourly bus - except that it's 2 buses 3 minutes apart and then a gap of an hour and 57 minutes, with the two buses operated by rival companies. Madness, and it results on "thinner" routes of neither being able to survive, and a loss of off-peak services of a need for financisl taxpayer support when the total service should be self supporting.
The £2 single fare promotion was originally for 2023. The previous government extended it through 2024 (over the general election period) and the current government is now wresting with a "what do we do?" question. Could some fares go up 3 times locslly (and some 5 times for other extreme jouneys elsewhere in the country).
How are we doing on electric buses? On buses and trains connecting? On through ticketing across buses and trains? On integrated information systems? On providing a stability so that investment can be made (public or private sector) on a service for the future that runs economically and on which people can plan their lives?
4.4 A railway for the future
$ 64,000 public transport questions ...
4.4.1 Service routes, levels
4.4.2 Service and infrastructure reliability
4.4.3 Price of travel, understandability of ticketing
4.4.4 Information systems
4.4.5 Welcoming the passengers (or not)
4.4.6 Network changes - new stations, even closing unused ones and lines
4.4.7 Access for all - including those without smartphones, with cycles, etc
4.4.8 Looking after people when things go wrong
The new structures open a door for those things to be dealt with. I suggest that the average passenger doesn't really care who operates his train or bus which is what so much talk is about - he wants a reliable service going where and when he wants, in safety and comfort and practically accessible at a price he can afford.
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Ongoing proposals in our area
5.1 Running clock face (Hourly) Trains
Melksham's trains need to run hourly each way, and at the same time in each hour. If you look at the stats of another station - and I chose Warminster as being the closest in terms of Town size, and with a history of service of about the leve we should have, you'll find their passenger journey numbers about 8 times ours. Yes, double the service at Melksham and each train will be twice as busy as eah current train.
Back up evidence? For everyone I talk to who uses the service, I speak to someone else who does not, citing infrequency, unreliability, difficulty getting to th station and the unwelcoming "feel" down there. And I move in public transport circles, so I meet a disproportionate number of current users.
The word running is key. It is no good having trains in the timetable and then cancelling them, especially at short notice. The rail industry need to employ and have available enough staff and lease enough working trains to run the service.
5.2 Evening buses all week everywhere
The late bus from Bath which runs 6 days a week is often very busy - but I will admit than passengers are few in number on that vehicle earlier in the evening. But why just 6 days out of 7, and why is the last bus back from Chippenham and Trowbridge so early that people working away, or doing overtime or finishing at 6pm or attending an event can't get home by bus? We're not looking at much here - a single vehicle from Trowbridge at 8 and 10 p.m. and from Chippenham at 7, 9 and 11 p.m.
5.3 Bus and walking links to station
That's the "16" bus as described above. And with a Melksham loop on the railway , the northbound and southbound hourly trains will call within minutes of each other, so the bus can connect to and from trains in both directions. From the first train to the last, please and, yes, that means multiple driver shifts even though it's a single vehicle.
Houses in Foundry Close were described when sold as "near to the station". Correct, but that's as the crow flies. On foot, it's the best part of 1km, and involves either walking down a major road with no footpath in parts, or crossing that road twice which is what is strongly encouraged. And yet - "all" that is needed is a section of fence taking down between two pieces of Wiltshire Council roadway, with improvement of about 10 yards of path. This would also bring the x34 bus stops far closer to the station
The old steps from the end of the station platform to the bridge over the railway could usefully be re-opened. Saving another "Great Way Round"
The Subway under the A350 which links the railway station to the town is in need of some Tender Loving Care - a project to improve that has been mooted and stillborn over the years.
5.4 More passenger-welcoming NaPTANs
A NaPTAN is a National Passenger Transport Access Node - bus stops and railway stations to you and me. Many of them in Melksham are far less welcoming than they might be, and that puts people off. For many it's as simple as keeping them clean and any signage up to date, with as a minimum these days a QR code to take you to current service running. There's a very large number of bus stops and for perhaps a dozen we're looking at a shelter and a bit more maintenance work - lights that work, any damage put right, etc. There is only one railway station.
The railway station is at the back of an industrial estate; at weekends and of an evening it's a very lonely place where people may not feel safe. Signage for outgoing passengers is frighening, telling them they may be fined if they don't buy a ticket from a complex-programmed machine. Arrivals expecting to find a town centre or waiting buses or a stop with service or taxis find none of those. These days, there are usually other people around when a train calls, but early arrivals for train who are newomers really wonder where they are, and people getting off a train for the first time, unmet, find themselves rapidly alone. No-one to ask, no loos, not even a drink of water. The "Melksham Hub" Cafe failed its economic case but from the lessons learned I believe the community could do better.
5.5 Melksham Transport User Group
5.5.1 - User information and support
5.5.2 - Commemorative seat in memory of Peter and Margaret
5.5.3 - Station friends including cafe presence
5.5.4 - Working with industry and specifiers for better service
5.6. We need to sort out cycling and walking updates
A big open question here where I am not an expert. Yes, I do walk and cycle around but I have not studied in great detail, and tend to look / use things rather than getting involved in too much of the why and wherefore. However, we do not to my knowledge have a local expert. A great deal of good learning work was done by Priority for People and much has been done in working up the Neighbourhood Plan. At the Town Council, I seem to be the best of a bad job ... an untrained volunteer with limited time.
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6. And in conclusion
Conclusion from the above
We are at a time of great opportunity, but also of great risk of not taking thos opportunities and getting in wrong. Some difficult and unpopular short term decisions need to be taken as we reset things for the future. There are some good knowledgable experts around and that knowledge must be cherished and used and not lost on a bonfire of political dogma, indifference and cutting. The voice of the user of services - the customer is king - must be heard and changes must do right for those customers.
Personally, I am not campaigning for another 4 years on the Town Council - there are better and more effective (and much more enjoyable) things I can do, and those are for the benefit of my ward, my town, and my region. Many of things in th article above point to a start of those things, but although it's long they just scrape the surface.
I have referred to many documents above - perhaps a thousand pages in total.
Next Steps
Having motivated you to read this far, I need to be suggesting options as to what we as a community can do and how you can effecively help.
* There is a West Wiltshire Rail User Group meeting on 18th September
* There is a TravelWatch SouthWest meeting on 11th October
* There is a Climate Friendly update for the constituency in B-o-A on 22nd October
* There NEEDS TO BE a co-ordianting meeting for Melksham, perhaps under the auspices of the "Melksham Rail Development Group" or the "Melksham Transport User Group" - re-envigourating. I wish I had something set up / I could tell you about here, but I don't.
What I can do is to give you a date to hold in your diary - Friday 25th October - very provisionally - for a significant public community meeting here in Melksham. I am updating at http://www.passenger.chat/29008.
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Published Sunday, 18th August 2024
Sunday bus - much improved service
A year ago, there were just 11 buses on a Sunday from Melksham - 5 to Bath and 6 to Devizes, at intervals of 2 hours, on route 273. This spring, Sunday services were started on route x34 on Sundays - 9 to Trowbridge and 9 to Chippenham . And come 1st September, the 273 services increase to hourly - there will be 10 to Bath and 12 to Devizes.So that's up from just 11 services a year ago to 29 now and 40 from next month.
First Sunday buses:
To Bath - 09:40 (08:39 from 1st September)
To Chippenham - 08:48
To Devizes - 09:50 (08:28 from 1st September)
To Trowbridge - 08:51
Last Sunday bus back:
From Bath - 19:10 (18:55 from 1st September)
From Chippenham - 18:20
From Devizes - 19:12 (19:00 from 1st September)
From Trowbridge - 18:20
On Monday to Saturday buses start earlier and run more frequently. They run from Devizes and Bath later in the evening too.
With the increase in Sunday services, and with the £2 single fare, the bus is a wonderful option for your journey any day of the week this autumn.
Published Wednesday, 14th August 2024
Park update and progress
Earlier this evening at Town Council - Assets and Amenities.
Dogs and facilities for them in the park. We have had a couple of issues here - one with offlead dogs running around the park - common practise but against the bylaws, poorly signed, and to the irritation of some park users. Second with the dog park / agility area where the equipment installed was not suitable for general dog use.
* Uniform signage to be provided on five entrances to the park stating that dogs must be on a lead
* Old and decaying rubber matting and old concrete base area in the dog park to be removed (needs doing whatever the future use), trees suitable for the area which is liable to flood / waterlog to be provided, fence to be upgraded and fresh water provided (Pipework already there from playpool days?). I am in full support of this - styled as a part of the park in which dogs can be offlead rather than just a dog park.
Eco-loos. Currently out of use, and have not been as reliable or apprecisted as we hoped. Perhaps the park has become too popular? Over coming dsys, signage to redirect people to the Bath Road loos across the park. Then as a matter of urgency (so a month or two?) plumb in fresh water for handwash, and to drains. Add baby changing facility in the loos too. Checking the timing on this and whether we need planning permission.
Splashpad. Take advice from experts on how to improve availability at times of high usage; it would appear that previous information on a change to the chemicals was incorrect and the meeting chair didn't want to hear me out on other points - however, we are moving in the right direction, and operational signage will be brought back within days and (I hope) the person running the splashpad may be able again to update social media for the pad without needin communication officer approval every time.
On mowers and Town Council vehicles, the committee felt that they didn't have enough information to go on to make sensible decisions, and in the absence of the head of operation and amenties team manager, we could not explore the matter with the people who actually need the equipment either, so we have asked for further data and an opportunity to hear what the people who know the job and will be actually using it would like.
A request from The Lions to plant an Oak Tree in the park to celebrate their 50 years was agreed in principle - with the amenities team, horticultiral experts, etc to work with the lions to find the best place for something that will be with our descendants long after we are gone.
Published Monday, 12th August 2024
Answering on Facebook - not always possible
I am very sorry that some people are getting snappy and upset with me about my lack of replies on Facebook on a Melksham community group. My posts there have been decline, previously with reasons given in a personal message to me, and understood - things like "nothing political" and "I don't want that meeting promoted" and it is totally up to the admins of that group to refuse posts if they wish. But I am now automatically declined ... "Your comment was automatically declined based on certain criteria in this group. Next steps. Review this group's rules." and I have done. I am trying to work out which rule I have broken, and cannot see it in the content (image above) nor in previous declined comments.
| These rules come from the group admins. 1 Be kind and courteous We're all in this together to create a welcoming environment. Let's treat everyone with respect. Healthy debates are natural, but kindness is required. 2 No hate speech or bullying Make sure that everyone feels safe. Bullying of any kind isn't allowed, and degrading comments about things such as race, religion, culture, sexual orientation, gender or identity will not be tolerated. 3 No promotions or spam Give more to this group than you take. Self-promotion, spam and irrelevant links aren't allowed. 4 Respect everyone's privacy Being part of this group requires mutual trust. Authentic, expressive discussions make groups great, but may also be sensitive and private. What's shared in the group should stay in the group. |
The rules are sensible ones, but as I said I am trying really hard to see which rule I have broken ... let alone broken enough to get an automatic decline of anything I try to answer ... in the latest case about progress on the request to the council to see if the old toilet block on Church Street can be reopened with part used as the pet food larder.
Please do get in touch with me directly - if I see you asking on a Facebook Group I will answer there if allowed. If I see you somewhere my reply is likely to be declined, I will get back to you personally. But of course while that may answer you, it leaves a pretty poor impression with all the other readers who think I have not responded.
Putting the shoe on the other foot, I DO do a lot of online moderation and admin myself, and know what a hard call it is in a theoretically public place to decide to put something in place thatautomatically declines a poster. Personally, I feel it is "Kind and Curteous" to let someone know why they're decline if it's an action you feel you have to take.
Published Monday, 5th August 2024
Should Melksham welcome Labour's expanded housing?
From Mike Sankey on Facebook in answer to Angela Rayner's plans to build more houses in Wilthshire, as reported on the BBCOh dear, Mike ... yes, a big gulp and deep breath taken. This strikes me as a post from you with seeming political unpleasantness aimed at the new government. They have been elected on a very open manifesto of building more homes. And that's just like more homes have been built around Melksham in the last 15 years by - let me see - which party are you with and who was the government? It looks rather hypocritical to me.
But let's take a forward looking view, should we?
This country needs housing to be provided. That's based on renewal of old homes that are beyond their life and not up to modern standards. The average household size has remained static (2.36 persons) for a decade, but there are now 33% of young men and 22% of young women (aged 20 to 34) living at home with parents, and those numbers suggest to me that there is a block in them leaving the parental home; anecdotal examples confirm that. Our population is increasing (perhaps 5 million in the last decade) and again those people need housing. Those are just the raw starting facts.
But then the question comes "how, what and where should housing be provided". "Who should build it and decide on how it's provided" and "what extra service and infrastructure should be provided to support that housing and those living around"?
Under the previous Town Council, the "Priority for People" project helped inform the town council as to our direction, and we had a Community Development Officer who did so much to guide us and help us through the first Neighbourhood Plan. Although one the first actions of the new council in May 2021 was to declare him redundant, we (or perhaps "I" since I cannot speak for the council as a whole) are now fairly well informed for future direction, and we have our development projects set.
Without David McKnight, and without anyone else picking up medium and long term planning issues, your Town Council essentially chose to abdicate the role it had been taking in the development of the Melksham Area. I am delighted to say that Melksham Without Parish Council officers and councillors have taken a lead role in the revision of the Neighbourhood Plan and with two councillors and funding from the town this work has continued - indeed we had consultations on the final changes last week.
Which leaves us in a pretty good position to react to changes from the region of country as a whole - even if not formally, for the people involved in the neighbourhood plan to do so slightly less formally. The mix of housing we need is known and defined. Building Standards have been defined. A huge number of potential sights for plan lead development - both ours and County's have been considered and when it comes to adding more homes as this government has asked, we are fast-tracked to knowing what we need, where it should be, and to what standards. And how will it fit with or have the infrastructure keep pace?
There will be challenges. I am far more positive than Councillor Sankey who to me seems to have taken a NIMBY (Not in my back yard) view, which I can understand as he's an excellent councillor who's up for re-election next year, and must say what is going to be popular with the electorate in East Ward. In the South Ward I am telling people the whole story, including things that won't be popular.
So what extra thoughts do I have? Adding extra housing around Melksham makes some sense
1, Developing around Market Town rather than in suburbs of major cities makes modern commute sense. Post-Covid and with people now able to work much more from home, there's no longer the same peak time pressure or need to make things as fast-commutable. 40 minutes 2 times a week each way is better than 20 minutes 5 times a week each way - and modern technology allows people to commute by train and work on the train, or relax, not adding to the road traffic. I'm not saying "train or bus" because the train is smooth and the bus is not.
2. Developing around a Market Town means that town can retain or grow facilities which would be uneconomic in a smaller town. This future Melksham will support an "Assembly Hall" as at present with the large, flat 400 seats PLUS a smaller raked theatre in the old Blue Pool with perhaps 180 seats, plus a museum for Melksham both for residents and to attract people from outside - infrastructure needs to grow, yes, but many elements not at the same rate as the population grows.
3. Life in a Market Town is much more sustainable. I hardly drive these days and that's because walking and cycling are almost as fast (sometimes faster) and there's no need to find somewhere to park, no need to clog the street with "smelly, dirty" cars and no need to build more big roads for those cars, nor hard standing at people's home where the private vehicle spends most of its time.
4. In a Market Town, we are in easy reach of the countryside, and indeed of other towns. I was brought up in the 'burbs of London, and it was a rare treat to go out into the countryside. For sure, if another ring of houses is build around Melksham, that's a bit further out to go but even with all this building I think it would take up no more that 2% of the countryside over the next 25 years (that figure may be out of date) - it just feels like a lot more because the natural building places are adjacent to the current settlement.
5. Communities of a certain size give scope for improved public transport. Around a quarter of Melksham households don't have their own private powered vehicle, and for those existing households a greater demand for public transport heralds exciting and practical improvements. How about a train service not every 2 hours, but every hour each way? And then as we grow further a direct Chippenham to Bristol service calling at Bradford-on-Avon, Bath Spa on the way? How about another vehicle on the Town Bus, this one taking in the Railway Station, The Campus, the East of Melksham and forthcoming residential areas, and the work areas on Bowerhill and Hampton Park West. We have recently got new Sunday buses to Chippenham and Trowbridge, and with a rising population perhaps they could be added back in the evening too?
6. Land and building costs here in a walkable community are lower than those in a city. So more afforable (however you define that!) housing can be provided, no longer forcing our children to remain with parents long after is natural, or to move away.
Lisa and I moved to Melksham in 1999 and we were welcomed here. This town has a huge spirit, a big heart and can and will welcome others, for the common mutual benefit. I am not a Labour voter (sorry, never have been, Kerry) but in this case the Angela Rayner policy makes sense. For sure, there is much devil in the detail but if it's done to plan we already living here, and the new arrivals, will have so much to gain.
Mike's original post, which I am quoting here:
Well, the reality is worse than we feared. Labour plans to decimate Wiltshire by raising housing targets here by 81%.
Look at the map and witness the stupidity of Angela Rayner. She’s not encouraging house building in large cities that have the most demand or the best infrastructure, nope, she’s pushing it out to our countryside.
She is also restricting local powers and reducing community input to firmly wedge the door open for the big house builders to concrete over our countryside.
Expect to see the bulldozers roll into our villages very soon.”
Published Friday, 2nd August 2024
Rail Nationalisation - is it the solution?
The headline is that the railways will be nationalised, and some have bought into that message: "I'm hopeful. Having public transport under private ownership always made the very term seem like an oxymoron. GWR's contract ends in June 2028, so enough time for Great British Railways to be established by then and soon enough that Labour will still be in power. Their days are literally numbered."But, sadly, that's a simplification. What changes?
* 1. The nation already owns the infrastructure, and maintains and operates most of it.
* 2. The nation already specifies 98% of passenger services, and already operates perhaps a half of those. The other half is operated by private companies ("TOC▸ "s) who are paid a fee for doing to, and with all income going to the government. So the risk is already nationalised
* 3. The majority of passenger trains themselves are owned by private companies - Angel Trains, Eversholt and Porterbrook - not the train operators nor the nation. I have seen nothing in the plans to suggest that the nation will buy out (nationalise) these "RoSCo"s.
* 4. Freight trains are for the most part owned and operated by private companies. Nothing changes as far as I can see
So what does the nationalisation actually mean?
It means that the current private companies operating trains (First, Arriva, Govia, MTR, Transport UK Group, JR East, Mitsui and Trenitalia) will cease to do so when the contracts run out. They employ thousands of staff many of whom are very highly skilled. All their staff, except at the very highest level, will be subject to transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) - or TUPE▸ - which means they will end up working for the new bosses.
The massive question is ... who will those new bosses be, what skills and experience will they have, what constraints will they have to work under - will they be the same financial and (of late) micromanaged constraints that there have been on the contracts.
There are some benefits from moving the contracts into a national operation:
A. There will no longer be the same need to have hundreds of people involved with "delay attribution" assigning financial implications when something goes wrong to the appropriate company. But that's only to a degree as assignment of delay for open access and freight operations will still be needed. "I would add that because there will be fewer players involved, there will also be fewer contractual interfaces. This means less friction and less need for legal contracts between different parts of the organisation, which should make things quicker, easier and cheaper. These benefits of streamlining could theoretically have been achieved without nationalisation - but who other than the Government would have taken it on?" says one of my reviewers
B. The competition for timetable "slots" will be reduced, again saving a degree of duplication of work, but that's only to a degree as Open Access and freight operations will remain in the private sector.
C. The fees to shareholders will be saved - but that's probably no more than a penny in the pound of your fare
There is plenty of POTENTIAL. Potential for a consistent fare structure and marketing, for example, and potential for investment longer term as money spent by TOCs has meant that they have had to take a very short term view.
But there are some disadvantages too
a. The very senior managers who will no longer be in charge know their stuff, and they and their skills will be sorely missed
b. Towards the end of a franchise or contract, Train operators have always wanted to do a good job to give themselves the best change of getting the contract for the next "n" years. There is no such motivation at present, and perhaps we are in a "couldn't care less" period end-of-term and f*** the passengers. Now the people involved ARE more professional than that, but you're already seeing people leaving the "sinking" ship rather than waiting for the very end.
c. Motivation to run a tight ship may be missing, and political interference with running the railways may lead to some interesting decisions based on (it has been in the past) how many marginal constituencies a line passes through.
What I don't see in all of this is the saving of billions of pounds, or the motivation to significant numbers of people to use the railway now the "we own it" - even though we don't actually own most of the trains themselves.
d. "The biggest loss is of the possibility of applying real penalties to operators. With a contracted private company any fine (if you make sure it can't be recovered) comes from outside the railway itself: the owners' pockets. You (and many others) have pointed out before that fining Network Rail is pretty ridiculous.
Beyond financial penalties you can go to the next step and revoke the contract ("franchise" agreements and later contracts offer many grounds for doing this). You can hardly do that to part of a government-owned operator!"
Now - let's look beyond nationalisation at what the Labour party has pledged for the railways.
I. Passenger input / feedback - how and how to go to when things go wrong has been a mess. Transport Focus, the Rail Ombudsman and parts of the Office of Road and Rail are to be combined into a stronger watchdog - but stronger for whom?
II. We have been pledged a simpler and fairer fare system - but missing from that pledge is any commitment not to put fares up. We have already seen on LNER, already nationalised, "simplification" meaning removal of the best value fares, and there are some excellent products that are inconsistently offered. Will they continue?
III. There is a pledge to make thing more reliable, and also to save money. At present, trains, staff and tracks are behind in support and maintenance and a logical way to reach the the goal of reliability and finance is to move the goal. Are we looking at longer and more closures for engineering? Are we looking at a reduced train service to that those that are left actually work? May we even be looking at service, line and station closures? I haven't seen any shouts about more trains, and the government has just cancelled "Restore Your Railway". Any yet one of my reviewers writes "It might be good to be intensely relaxed about that 'Restore your railway' concept and programme having been given the heave ho. From the start it came across as performative vote-bait, it was given a budget that pretty much guaranteed little progress, and the whole concept was trotted out with a most inappropriate aroma of Beeching-pomander" and I agree his point; there IS a need for some network growth, but putting it back to how it was 60 years ago is hardly lookimg to the future. Much more new railways and stations which in some geopgrahic cases will happen to be similar to where things were before.
IV. There is a pledge to bring public transport more under local care, and I wonder if that means funding is more expected from local taxpayers. In some ways good, but it potentially makes for a much more patchy service. Here in Wiltshire, many of our journeys are to the Bath and Bristol area and all sorts of cross-border, issues arise, as we saw with the 94 bus. We also should bear in mind just how few of our elected Wiltshire reps would be seen dead on public transport.
So - where would I look forward as a camapigner and proponent for improved public transport, which comes back to the very roots of "why do we have public transport anyway aand what do we want it to achieve".
In November of last year, I went along to the 50 anniversary of the Campaign for Better Transport, formerly Transport 2000, and already at that time work was underway to interface seriously with the Labour party in anticipation of the possibility or even probability of them becoming the government. It makes sense to partner and not protest - to be the criticsl but knowelegable friend to help towards common goals.
Published Thursday, 1st August 2024
Walking and Cycling Infrastructure - consultation
In order to encourage walking and the use of cycling, Wiltshire council has produced a "Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan for Melksham - a 74 page document you can read (I have mirrored) {{here}} and is consulting on it - seeking your view - via https://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/news/have-your-say-on-cycling-and-walking-plans-for-calne-and-melksham - until 6th September 2024Walking and Cycling is an important way for people to get around locally - healthy, good, door to door, can be fast, sustainable. But with traffic on the roads in can also be dangerous, not well signposted, indirect and without secure facilities at journey's end. These latter constraints discourage people from cycling and walking - you can see the difference if you compare Melksham with - say - an equivalent sized town in the Netherlands or Denmark.
From my home on Spa Road (in South Ward), I can walk to the Town Centre in 5 minutes, the cafe in the park in 12 minutes, and the railway station in 20 minutes. And I can cycle to the park in 4 minutes and the station in 6. But how safe am I to do so? What can I do with my cycle when I get to my destination? Could it be improved?
The LCWIP analyses the historic and current flows of people, and the "hot spots" that need attention, and make some suggestions. I'm not sure at this stage that the solutions are fully defined, nor how they will be tuned, and whether they will be funded or implemented, but never the less the exercise in working out what we need to do is a useful one - not only to inform Wiltshire Council, but also to educate and plan for ourselves.
Some things have changed since the data used in the report was gathered. At the time of the 2011 census, the secondary school was on the Bath Road and the pupils walked to school from a different catchment. And at that time our train service was so poor that just five passengers a day left by train (now hundreds use it, and it should be more). Other things will are changing and will change into the future too. The plan needs to consider wheelchairs and mobility scooters too, snd surely electric scooters of the sort we see in cities like Bath will be legalised here too in some form in the future? The Cooper Tires / Avon site may have substantial residential, business and leisure built there, and for local access extra walking and cycling will be significant.
I invite readers to take a look at the LCWIP consultation and make inputs. I am aware that Melksham Without Parish Council considered it earlier this week, but I have not seen it (yet?) on any Town Council agenda - I will ask. There was an earlier round of consultation on this, and I am delighted to see a number of changes proposed as a result. Your input CAN make s difference.
Published Wednesday, 31st July 2024