MOVED: Great Bedwyn Parish Council calls woman's parking campaign "vexatious"

[whole diary]

[grahame]

This topic has been moved to Frequent Posters Club.

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10688.0

The original post quoted the following newspaper article without comment, and I was astonished to receive a complaint a year later suggesting that quoting in such a way is "no better than trolling" and stating "We are also seeking your assurance that no future abuse is allowed. ".   I don't agree with those complaints, but I have moved the original post to "Frequent Posters" as it's an old story and still available online through the local newspapers - we really added nothing here but to inform, and I have no desire to get bogged down in the issues that we merely reported.

http://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/9652716.Gagged_for_campaign/

Other news articles associated with this story may be found at
http://www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/news/9356169.Kerb_selfish_drivers_at_Great_Bedwyn/
http://www.marlboroughnewsonline.co.uk/news/all-the-news/1598-great-bedwyn-parish-councillor-breached-standards-code-over-vexatious-claim
http://www.bedwynblogger.co.uk/
http://www.bedwynblogger.co.uk/dear-mr-durie.html
http://www.bedwynblogger.co.uk/guess-who.html
http://www.bedwynblogger.co.uk/archive.html
http://cms.wiltshire.gov.uk/(S(wm5gga55b130f045qoanjja5))/documents/s58293/Final%20Report%20-%20Roger%20Durie%20WC%2006%2012%20part%201%20of%204_Redacted.pdf

[grahame]

This "Moved" thread is a bit different from most:

a) it is not locked, and so it's open for any member to post a follow up subject to the current user agreement.  And that includes anyone who wishes to sign up for the specific purpose of adding comment.

b) I elected to move the thread as an act of pragmatism.  The thread contains excellent posts, highlighting a local newspaper article that described the tensions between commuters and residents in Bedwyn over parking - there is nothing wrong with it.  However, I had also become aware of the hurt caused, and the amount of time taken up, by the original newspaper article and its follow on.  I decided that I didn't want this forum to cause that hurt, nor to get embroiled in a long and time-consuming discussion of the matter, about which neither I nor the moderator team knows more than we have read.



Edit note: Typos corrected, purely in the interests of clarity. CfN. 

[Chris from Nailsea]

From This Is Wiltshire:

It^s a rail problem at Great Bedwyn
_{By Anna Mauremootoo 12:00pm Thursday 8th May 2014 in News}


Resident Jan Thornton pictured outside Bedwyn railway station. BY PAUL MORRIS

Plans to increase car parking at Bedwyn Station are causing more tension between commuters and residents.

First Great Western says there are 17 car parking spaces at the station and it has submitted an application to Wiltshire Council to increase the total to 40 by creating 23 additional bays.

The new spaces would be built on disused land between the railway line and the road and would include a disabled bay.

The proposals have been welcomed by Bedwyn Trains Passenger Group.

Chairman Steve Smith said: ^We are delighted that there are plans for new parking spaces. Obviously we welcome anything that will improve the station.

^There are good days and bad days for parking and at the moment it hasn^t been too bad but at other times it does cause a problem.^

However, opposition is mounting from residents in bungalows at The Knapp opposite the station, who have been battling for years to stop railway commuters parking outside their homes, because they say new car park would only make the problem worse.

Jan Thornton, from the Knapp Residents^ Association, said: ^People in The Knapp are very unhappy about it. There are some major discrepancies in the application that need to be corrected.

^There are 25 spaces at the front of the station, not 17 as the application says, and eight cars already park on the road which gives a total of 33 spaces.

^If there is nose-first parking cars will be reversing out into traffic and people whizz down this road, the hazard that this would cause is farcical. We^ve already got enough cars down here. We nearly have as many cars down here as Swindon station car park.

^Wiltshire Council is trying to make Bedwyn a sustainable transport hub but we can^t even sustain what we already have. It^s important but they need to find a proper car park.^

The application also outlines plans to provide a new ticket machine and bike shelter, which have already been put in place.

A First Great Western spokesman said: ^Planning consent is a further step towards providing the increased parking we, and our customers want to see.^

The planning application is due to be discussed by the parish council this evening.

[grahame]

Thanks for posting this update, Chris.  I am very glad that a ticket vending machine has been provided at Bedwyn. This fills a gap in revenue collection - allowing those who want to purchase tickets but had little / no opportunity to do so more easily.  That's covered also at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=13842.0

Local MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) Claire Perry has supported / promoted a more radical solution to the car parking issues at Bedwyn. From an article about opening of stations at Corsham and Royal Wootton Bassett stations

Campaigners in Corsham, who want to see their station open again on the line between Chippenham and Bath, have met with transport ministers to get their project on track, while further up the line at Royal Wootton Bassett, more housing development could be the trigger for the station there to re-open, with local MP James Gray meeting Network Rail to push their campaign along.

Marlborough MP Claire Perry said she supported the idea, given the problems of parking and capacity at Bedwyn station, eight miles outside the town, and said she would raise it with ministers.

http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/Calls-old-stations-opened/story-21064897-detail/story.html

[patch38]

"We nearly have as many cars down here as Swindon station car park."

Anyone know how many official spaces there are at SWI^» (Swindon - next trains) (excluding surrounding public car parks)? It must be in the mid-hundreds?

[LiskeardRich]

"We nearly have as many cars down here as Swindon station car park."

Anyone know how many official spaces there are at SWI^» (Swindon - next trains) (excluding surrounding public car parks)? It must be in the mid-hundreds?

578
Check any stations parking at

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations_destinations/SWI.aspx

Under the getting to the station drop down.

[JayMac]

"We nearly have as many cars down here as Swindon station car park."

Anyone know how many official spaces there are at SWI^» (Swindon - next trains) (excluding surrounding public car parks)? It must be in the mid-hundreds?

567 according to the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) website.

Main Car Park: 350
East Car Park: 107
West Car Park: 110

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the First Great Western press release:

Rail Minister re-opens Bedwyn Station car park after improvement works

Rail Minister and MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) for Devizes Claire Perry has re-opened the car park at Bedwyn Station following ^40,000 improvement works.

The work provides an increase of marked station off street bay car parking, adding 23 off street parking spaces, and improving access to The Knapp.

Claire said: ^Supporting and improving our vital train services from Bedwyn and Pewsey stations is one of my local campaigning priorities and I was really pleased on Friday to celebrate the provision of 23 more off-street parking spaces at Bedwyn Station, made possible by from the Government^s Local Sustainable Transport Fund. These new spaces, together with the new shelters and ticket machine at Bedwyn will help ease some of the local parking pressures and benefit passengers from this popular station.^

First Great Western^s Bedwyn Station Manager Alison Stone said: ^First Great Western recognises the key role that rail travel has in supporting the local and national economy and we are delighted to be able to complete this work to improve access to this station and the full range of services we offer. During the previous franchise over ^85 million has been invested across our network of 210 stations, by working with rail industry partners, the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about), and local authorities.^

The improvement works were funded by Wiltshire Council and First Great Western, and are supported by the Bedwyn Rail User Group.

Wiltshire Council secured Government funding through its Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF^▸ (Local Sustainable Transport Fund)) project to create the additional parking spaces as part of a partnership project with First Great Western.

The project has also funded a new cycle shelter and ticket vending machine, installed last August.

Horace Prickett, Wiltshire Council portfolio holder for transport said: ^I am delighted with the improvements at Bedwyn Station. This underlines our commitment to green initiatives and our successful bid for Government funding is bringing about key improvements to rail stations across the county.^

^This is supported by the development of our Connecting Wiltshire travel website which provides helpful information on all modes of transport across Wiltshire.^

The works began in late November.