General election - policies on Transport - what should we look or ask for?

[whole diary]

[grahame]

1. Increasing demand. The railways are hardly coping with the demand they've got in the peak at the moment.

2. Potentially even more long distance commuting. In my view (and who knows broadgage might agree with me ) commuting is the elephant in the room when looked at in relation to CO2 emmissions. ...

3. If long-distance commuting did increase we may see an increasing number of pleasant market towns and villages turning into ghost towns during the day as most of the working age population clears off for the day. ...

On your point 2 ... long distance community into London is already being actively encouraged.  New "Superfast" trains - initially in the peak - will should whisk people from Chippenham none-stop to London as from 16th December, in the process nearly doubling the maximum peak hour gap between trains from Chippenham for the shorter commute to Swindon.  A new train at 05:23 from Trowbridge and 05:33 from Melksham will provide an interchange at Swindon for a London arrival scheduled by 07:00, and the final train back has been pushed from a London departure of 19:00 to 19:12 last year (Monday to Thursday) and 19:48 from 16th December.  Still too early for taking in a show or leisure activities in Swindon - but great for the London commuter.

Large numbers of new homes are being built in Chippenham, Melksham and Trowbridge, and there's even a new station proposed at Ashton Park just south of Trowbridge in an area to be covered with houses.  This suggestion cm not from the community wanting a station, but left field from a local government / LEP^» (Local Enterprise Partnership - about) study looking ahead at rail development across the area.

I will admit to liking commuters, mind you.  Without them, we could not have got even close to the target passenger numbers during our 2013 - 2016 trial service period, let alone coming in with twice the requested numbers.

[TonyK]

I am going - at the risk (!) of being a bit selective

Here the most curious reference seems to be the Conservative Party, which singles out Fleetwood and Willenhall as places that have “suffered permanent disadvantage” after being removed from the rail network, but makes no mention of the many other viable re-opening schemes that have been under discussion for a long time.

Fleetwood has been more damaged by its removal from the fishing industry than by disconnection from the national railway. It is now connected to Blackpool by the modern light railway that replaced much of the old tramway, and will soon be connected directly to Blackpool North station as soon as the Wilko store in the way is gone.

2019-02-16 019 by John McCarthy, on Flickr

I have it on authority that discussion is moving forward quite smoothly on rebuilding the former Fleetwood rail line as an extension of the light rail system from round about Fleetwood Football Club to Poulton-le-Fylde station. There, it will deliver passengers to the ultra-modern 25 KV AC railway. Further plans are afoot to extend the North Station spur to Victoria Hospital, and to run trams to Lytham St Annes alongside the existing heavy rail line to Blackpool South. In both cases, there is plenty of former industrial land upon which new houses could be built, to add to the benefit offered by greater connectivity. My source, btw, is a conservative town councillor, who is so mad about trams that he moved house to be able to see them more.

[LiskeardRich]

I've seen the opinion polls, and I think I know how this election is going to pan out (more or less) - but something rather surprised me today. I drove along the A370 from Weston to Bristol, looking out for political signs and posters. I'd normally expect to see dozens of 'Vote Conservative' signs here, but I saw none at all; just two Lib Dem signs and an EU^» (European Union - about) flag.

Interesting times.

I offer you some suggestions

a) I've heard suggestions that the Conservatives aren't pushing to get lots of posters out there in order to show their core voters that they need to vote - that the election is not a foregone conclusion

b) as an alternative, I've heard there might be a last week short / sharp postering campaign to help surge the Tory vote

c) You need to be far braver in this election than in previous ones to put up a sign.  We put one up and have been vandalised for the first time in 20 years in Melksham.  At first we thought "local twits" but then others reported vandalism too - similar 'signature' and a long way from being on someone's way home from the pub!

d) Many families are split and can't agree within their household

Had the conversation with my barber today. We both came to the conclusion were on the fence in multiple directions. Our incumbent MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) only ever tows the party line. She blocks anyone from social media that so much as questions her on anything she can’t answer in the party line.
The Lib Dem bloke is a well known local advocate and does a lot of community work, but could we vote for Lib Dem’s, is it a wasted vote here when it’s a Tory Labour two horse race pretty much

[grahame]

Had the conversation with my barber today. We both came to the conclusion were on the fence in multiple directions. Our incumbent MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) only ever tows the party line. She blocks anyone from social media that so much as questions her on anything she can’t answer in the party line.
The Lib Dem bloke is a well known local advocate and does a lot of community work, but could we vote for Lib Dem’s, is it a wasted vote here when it’s a Tory Labour two horse race pretty much

I'm not so sure ... I look at the numbers and see it as one horse ... but if that horse should stumble, there are two other horses quite close behind it.    From the last general election:

Conservative - Sheryll Murray   Votes29,493
Labour - Gareth Derrick   Votes12,050
Liberal Democrat - Phil Hutty   Votes10,346
Green Party - Martin Corney   Votes1,335

[broadgage]

Is the promised fare reduction in addition to the free unicorn* for every child, or instead ?
*vegan alternative under discussion.

Unicorn for every child now cancelled.

[rogerw]

After I had cornered the market in Unicorns as well 

[broadgage]

After I had cornered the market in Unicorns as well 

"Wicked fat cat privateers corner the market in unicorns and thereby profiteer at the expense of needy children. If elected, the labour party will ban profiteering from unicorns, by introducing statutory price controls, and will set up state unicorn farms, to be run by workers co=operatives for the common good, without private profit"