Great Western Coffee Shop

- 10:00 for 10:45 start
- to 14:30 for 15:00 trains and later
ALL welcome - especially travel and transport specialists

Background - an occasional meeting for travel and transport groups from Wiltshire to update on what's happening, to learn other's practise and experience, and to formulate and provide practical, co-ordinated policy inputs to local authority, central government, and transport industry bodies.

This meeting follows on from our meeting earlier this year, when the future of the Great Western Franchise was unclear and the main agenda item is to look forward with joined up thinking with new county councillors, and in the current management contract (?) scene on Great Western Trains.

Sorry about the latish agenda - have been waiting to hear back from a newly appointed Transport supremo as to whether they can attend. To my delight, I've heard from Duncan Hames MP who has been helpful and active and attended our inaugural meeting, and he will be with us for part of the day.

Running order to be confirmed overnight, but on my agenda I have ...

Local Sustainable Transport Fund
Changes at Wiltshire Council
Zigzag bus
Electrification evaluations
Wootton Bassett, Wilton and Westbury
The A350 corridor - "Public Transport" improvements
TransWilts Trains
Working with First
Buses - lessons from Cornwall, north Devon and Somerset
The way forward

All welcome ... please let me know if you're coming / would like directions - graham@wellho.net

My meeting notes ...

TransWilts Use Groups co-ordination meeting. Subject discussed / messages raised

One MP, One Wiltshire Councillor, 2 Presidents of Chamber of Commerce, one FSB area representation for Transport, One Campaign for Better Transport Dynamo, One council expert officer, 2 town councillors, one chair of the major political party in Wiltshire, one former member of Transport Users Consultative Committee, One CRP Chair, One bus geek, anuber of campaign experts .... we had quite a lot of relevant skills in the room.   All public transport users; cyclists, wheelchair user, and many of use drivers too.

* Electrification to Bedwyn or Westbury or Frome or Bath
- Silly to test case based on current train services without amending for electric lines
- Noted that only THIS case from BDW tested; other cases would probably be much better
- Noted that even Bedwyn people (BCR 2.3 and rising) not happy that it stops there
- Note support from further west and from Bristol
- Unhappy that formal publicaton is slipping until after next spending announcement

* TransWilts service - improvements
- Duncan Hames filled us in on what he's been doing being / meeting DfT, NR, FGW, etc
- These actions / our prompring has helped stop this falling off the table in the franchise mess
- FGW should get 3 yeat extersion.  Request for bid just going out.  Now includes TransWilts as costed option
- Trains to be running from 12.2015; stock aquaitition under way (see Cardiff / Taunton EU request)
- Path requests etc have gone to NR

* Change of Portflio at Wiltshire Council
- Thanks to Richard Gamble for last four years
- Welcome to Fleur de Rhe Phillipe;
- Apologies from Fleur. Intro note promising
- Past work / reputation a worry, but we're in a different era in both transport requirement and our move from campaign to support

* Bath / Bristol Travel to work area
- BaNES core states "Housing in West Wilts" so travel and transport needed
- Need to work with West of England Partenrship
- 14th June, 3 pm onwards, Guildhall, Bath - meeting witg questions - JR to brief
- 9th July - Adrian Saunders, Transport Select Commitee - JR to liase / GE and IC to speak to Wiltshire
- Turnback at Batheaston would be difficult to work and needless cost to add in
- Staff and many travellers based onwards to Westbury; service should run to Frome / Warmisnter, Melksham connection

* Swindon and Wiltshire  Local Transport Board
- Covers LEP area.  2 council portflio holders for each plus others
- 70 schemes consider for putting forward, now down to 10
- 6 road, 4 rail
- Royal Wootton Bassett station, extra Westbury Platform and Wilton station all link in with Transwilts; gratified to see them as they require TransWilts trains to run.
- We also welcome Corsham station
- Concern at roads being almost entirely A350 and the sponge effect of bringing in traffic.  From Bath / Clarendon Bridge
- It's appreciated / applauded that links from West Wilts to motorway past chppenham need to be debottlenecked;  dual or improving roundabouts???
- If A350 take much more traffic, also need to look at Beanacre.
- Much A36 traffic from Motorway is to Frome If that goes to A350, make strong case for link road to upgrade A361 from A350 to A36- Would also provide better lorry link into West Wilts Trading estate
- A350 in Dorset hard to improve in certain areas

* Zigzag bus
- Consultation until 2nd August
- Group prefers NOT to shrink back service which will just send it downhill; suggests other alternative
- nicer buses to encourage optional ("middle class!") users; regular service
- can be done with (!) fewer vehicles and probably much less subsidy if done across the great cross network at Melksham
- GE to documnet to SF by Wednesday (done - see http://melksh.am/4111 )
- Note by JR / Wets Wilts has one of the lowest bus riderships in UK, esp. Paxcroft Mead and Cepen Park
- Low ridership put down to buses starting after houses are occupied and people have bought 2nd car
- We took a trip out to East Melksham to show this happening AGAIN ... lots of houses, no buses or stops yet

* LSTF
- Delivery wil be through constited CRPs; Transwilts advised to formalise as planned
- County budget cuts; looking for help with surveys and counts
- Bearing in mind the current high security, get official letters and sanctions

* Working with First / TransWilts CRP
- Great success on 27th May to Weymouth
- Now a leaflet for summer - GE

* Core Strategy
- 61 questions on Transport!   JR has seat at table for CBT; we can take her chair on our topics
- Mid July. Then BaNESone will resume.
- Inspector likes evidence based cases ;-)

* This meeting, next meeting
- Moved from the Laverton to Well House Manor as problem accessing the Laverton
- Issues to be resolved for next meeting as Laverton is public transport practical
- Send an EXTRA reminder out for next meeting (not just now, then a few days before).
- next date (very hard to find a Saturday for all!  19th October 2013).

You are welcome to ask questions / for a set of the minutes that Sion and Phil will be trying to put together - my gooooness what a full meeting!

Why thank you ::) :D


Thank you for this. However, my ZigZag run will have to wait until Wednesday, so I will be pushed for time to analyse the route - it will be 1500 by the time I get back home and the Panel meeting is at 1830! Tight indeed.

Also, if one is available, could you forward me a map of the new estate in Melksham please? Google's Map is iffy, and I can find no other. Hopefully a concept can be drafted from that in time for Wednesday too. Speaking of which, there are changes planned for the 271/272 - I shall tell you what exactly as soon as I know. (Assuming the plans aren't revealed on Wednesday anyway.)

- message deliberately made public to show progress in relation to the above