Category Archives: Transport

Derby City Centre Proposal

Posted on August 14, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Please help to stop Derby city council wasting at least £90,000 taking out pavements and changing roads which were only laid two months ago and letting traffic back into the city centre.

The proposal is to allow traffic to revert to travelling straight across from Curzon Street into Cheapside and Wardwick into Friar Gate.

These manoeuvres were banned at the end of May, except for bikes, buses and taxis, as part of the inner ring road project (Connecting Derby) to create a safer, more pleasant city centre environment for shoppers, and better routes for people travelling through the city on foot, by bike or by bus. Cars are kept to the ring road, apart from to gain access to local areas and cannot not pass right through the city centre.

This proposal is a waste of money, and it is also badly planned and not thought through. The ring road was completed at the end of May and just two weeks later the council leader Philip Hickson declared that they were harming city centre trade and had to be revoked. However, no analysis of the cause of the reduced trade has been carried out, given that cars can still get access to every street they could before; no alternative measures have been considered and there is no evidence to say these changes will bring trade back.

The Connecting Derby project has created some great routes into and around the city centre for cycling and walking, but some of these improvements will be lost after just two months.

Please object in writing quoting:

Objection to the Revoking of Connecting Derby

Traffic Regulation Orders

to these people:

Nicola Weekly  (e-mail  Nicola.Weekly@derby.gov.uk )

Traffic Management Team Leader

Neighbourhoods,

Saxon House,

Friary Street,

Derby DE1 1AN.

AND

Paul Robinson (e-mail   paul.robinson@derby.gov.uk )

Director of Neighbourhoods,

Roman House

Friar Gate

Derby DE1 1XB

Please copy your objection to Councillor Hickson

and all three of your local councillors.

Derby City Councillors – Contact Details

Closure date for objections: Monday 22nd August 2011

If you want more information:

Key points for objection:

  1. A waste of £90,000 undoing recently completed street works, instead of spending it enhancing other parts of Connecting Derby, many of which were suggested by DCG members and given to the council by us.
  2. No proper analysis of the cause of a claimed fall in trade in the area has been carried out. We risk implementing something which will not solve the problem.
  3. Goes against the objective of creating a safer, more pleasant area for shoppers and for people travelling through by sustainable means
  4. This is a blinkered approach to transport planning, with unwarranted bias towards cars (which already have a new ring road) and an abandonment of any notion of an integrated transport policy.
  5. A lack of proper consultation, with Councillor Hickson bulldozing his own ideas through, disregarding local democracy.

Please bear in mind the following points relating to this issue:

  1. Cars can still access every street they could prior to the inner ring road opening and parking provision is virtually the same as before. The inner ring road has now to be used to get to some streets instead of cutting through the city centre on that tortuous old “ring road”.
  2. Some local traders and the Bold Lane car park are reporting reduced trade since the inner ring road opened. However no proper analysis of the cause of this fall in trade has been carried out.
  3. Derby Cycling Group are proposing alternative solutions to redress the perceived fall in trade in the Cheapside area, but Councillor Hickson will not consider these.
  4. We feel that the recent job losses at Bombardier, Egg and the Post Office will also be affecting trade, we need to know about trade in other parts of the city.
  5. Derby Cycling Group have suggested that better signage to the Cathedral Quarter car parks and promotion of the new Connecting Derby road layout could help to restore trade. However, Councillor Hickson has so far not agreed to meet with us to discuss the matter. He has decided by himself what should be done.

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Posted in Derbyshire, Transport

Greens Defend Rail Jobs in Derby & UK

Posted on July 11, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Rally in Derby on Saturday 23 July

The Green Party has condemned the Tory/Lib Dem coalition government for giving a £3 billion order of new rolling stock for Thameslink trains to Siemens.

The rival bidder, Derby-based Bombardier, has laid off over a thousand workers, as the last remaining train builder in the country. The Bombardier factory in Derby is now under threat, and so are thousands more jobs in the Derby area in other rail businesses that supply the factory.

Green Party transport spokesperson Alan Francis said:

“We need more train carriages and more manufacturing jobs in the UK. Train manufacturing in this country should be expanded, not forced to close down. It is a dereliction of duty by the government to stand by and see the loss of skills and jobs.”

Derbyshire Green Party Chairman David Foster said:

“The coalition government is playing political football with the livelihoods of thousands of people in Derby and Derbyshire. One of the most worrying aspects of this deplorable decision is that it continues the trend of dismantling the whole engineering industry and technical know-how in this country. We have already witnessed the demise of the British automotive industry and rely heavily on foreign manufacturers. If we don’t wake up to what is happening, we risk losing our national engineering heritage. I urge the people of Derby and Derbyshire to show their opposition to this decision and come to the rally in Derby on Saturday 23 July.”

At a pre-general-election rail debate in Westminster in 2010 (1), Alan Francis was the only politician to argue not only for more train carriages for the rail network, but to also to state that they should be built in the UK to preserve British jobs.

Francis was on a panel with Chris Mole, then a Labour government transport minister, Stephen Hammond, then a Conservative shadow transport minister, and Norman Baker, then a Lib Dem shadow transport minister. The debate, before an audience of senior rail industry people, was chaired by the BBC’s Nick Owen.

When questioned about orders for new carriages, all of the panelists claimed that they wanted to see more carriages on the network. But Francis was the only one to talk about building those new carriages in this country. Alan Francis said today:

“This shows that all three of the main parties are so wedded to the free market, they are willing to sacrifice British manufacturing and British jobs. After the debate, I was congratulated by a member of the audience from a Derby rail company. He thanked me for being the only panellist to raise the issue of train building in this country.”
Notes
1) The Rail Debate, 17th March 2010, Central Hall, Westminster, see part 8 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxuBUEorm_I&feature=related

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Posted in Derbyshire, Economy, National, Transport

Transport In Derbyshire And Beyond

Posted on April 8, 2010 by | 1 Comment

Tranport policy is a fundamental failure of this and previous governments. We need a carefully planned and boldly implemented transport system if we are to build a future to cope with climate change.  Until the recession, CO2 emissions from transport had been rising inexorably. In the long term, only good public transport can reduce emissions.

Trains

Nationally, trains have been neglected for many years. Most money goes to London and the South East, now under the guise of catering for the Olympics – a party that will last for 3 weeks! You only have to compare with European continental trains to see how far behind we have fallen in this country. Important in an election? Yes to Greens. Trains (and trams) powered by renewable electricity will have to be the main source of long distance transport to reduce climate change and to overcome the lack and high price of oil supplies.

Nationally, one of the longest intercity train services is between Liverpool and Norwich, via Sheffield, Chesterfield and sometimes Long Eaton and Alfreton. Many of the trains are two coaches only. These have been overcrowded for years between Manchester and Nottingham. We were promised at a meeting in Chesterfield in March that the trains would be expanded to 4 coaches in May. We later heard they were talking about May 2012!

Derbyshire County Council (DCC) have been lamentable on this issue. The reopening of the Matlock to Buxton line was a “key” element in their Local Transport Plan 1 in 2000. They contracted Scott Wilson to produce a feasibility study which stated that it would be relatively easy to reopen the line as most infrastructure was still in place. DCC  (then Labour) got cold feet and refused to proceed with it. The Multi-Modal study on the East Midlands section of the M1 recommended that the East-West rails lines, some intact, should be reopened to passenger traffic. This report was supported by DCC and Chesterfield Borough Council (CBC).  Virtually nothing has been done to implement this recommendation. It was DCC that cut off Chesterfield Town Center from the rail station by building the so-called “bypass” between the two. There are no bus services of any use to the station, and only a few per day to Bolsover. DCC refuse to support anything to provide such a service.

Buses

In general DCC has been very supportive of bus services, and their support of Community transport has also been excellent. Unfortunately their information systems are awful. Take the journey by bus from Chesterfield to Wirksworth for example: we assume there must be reasonable services, but they do not give details in their timetable booklet that we all have to pay for. Information at bus stops is either non-existent or poor quality. Our case is that,  for a little more money, good information could persuade more people to use buses, thus reducing the necessity for so much subsidy.  The bus companies are equally guilty here, but they are let off the hook by bad management at DCC. The bus companies tell us that it is DCC’s job and not theirs to provide bus information, while DCC tell us the opposite! Nothing gets done except one playing off against the other. As the licensor and contract provider DCC should be in the driving seat.

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Posted in Climate Change, Derbyshire, Transport

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Vote Green For A Sane Transport Policy

Posted on March 13, 2010 by | Leave a comment

Here are some selected points from the Green Party Transport Policy. For the full policy visit http://policy.greenparty.org.uk/mfss/mfsstr.html

Priorities

The Green Party will use the planning system and the provision of finance to develop and encourage transportation according to the following hierarchy based on environmental impact and value for money:

1.    Walking and disabled access.
2.    Cycling.
3.    Public transport (trains, light rail/trams, buses and ferries) and rail and water-borne freight.
4.    Light goods vehicles, taxis and low powered motor cycles.
5.    Private motorised transport (cars & high powered motor cycles).
6.    Heavy goods vehicles.
7.    Aeroplanes.

Planning

The planning of all transport infrastructure must be done at the most local appropriate level and in a fully democratic manner, involving full and open public consultation.

Any development, [business, retail or residential] that encourages a large number of journeys must be in a location accessible to a wide range of public transport, including links to the rail system. All development should recognise its impact on transport, including the car, and make appropriate provision [In Italy, business is required to provide links to major centres of population or to the public transport network.]

The Green Party will use the planning system to reduce the need for journeys by supporting local provision of facilities, shops and work. Where practical, encourage the use of IT to reduce the need to travel to work.

In rural areas, planning requirements for new housing and settlements will need to ensure they are close to a range of services and are well served by public transport.

Finance

Financial measures relating to transport should be based on two principles: Firstly, transport should pay for its environmental costs through taxes and charges ["the polluter pays" principle]. Secondly, these should be used to finance improved public transport.

The Green Party will introduce a vehicle purchase tax on the purchase of all new vehicles, which would be steeply graded according to a vehicle’s pollution level, fuel consumption and type of fuel. The tax disc would be abolished.

Public Transport

The Green Party believes it is the government’s responsibility to ensure that all urban and rural areas of the United Kingdom are served by a public transport system that will allow for a large proportion of the current private motorised journeys to transfer to these modes. To this end, it must ensure that public transport is designed and planned to create a user-friendly service, that is reliable, affordable, accessible, integrated with all other sustainable modes and environmentally friendly. Public service, not private profit, must be the primary function of public transport.

The Green Party would seek to build goodwill among transport workers by addressing issues such as poor pay, anti-social hours, and difficult working conditions, along with greater involvement of the staff in the running of the transport systems.

Public transport in rural areas should be designed to meet the needs of those living in those areas. This must recognise the diversity of rural transport provision and the importance of innovative solutions. These will include various forms of trip sharing and community transport provision, including post buses and taxis, especially in the more remote areas where a reliance on the provision of frequent bus services may be environmentally damaging and too expensive.

The Green Party believes that the rail system, including track and operators, needs to be publicly owned, and would seek to bring the service back into public ownership.

The Green Party supports the further expansion and construction of new light rail systems, with the aim of seeing their introduction into all towns and cities where there is local support.

The Green Party would re-regulate the bus industry, with local authorities having responsibility for ensuring that bus services reflect all the principles for a public service, including the setting of routes, frequencies and fares.

The Green Party views taxis, Dial-a-Ride and private hire vehicles as forms of public transport.

New Deal For Transport

The Green New Deal commits investment to a major expansion of public transport. We will:

  • Double the size of the bus fleet through an investment of £3 billion to buy 30,000 new buses and create 70,000 jobs.
  • Provide a further £2 billion to subsidise bus fares and get new services operational.
  • Bring the railway system back into public ownership and spend £2 billion on new track and rolling stock, and on urban tram schemes – together creating 20,000 jobs.
  • Reduce UK rail fares by one third to bring them in line with the European average through a £3 billion subsidy.

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Posted in National, Transport

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Twenty is Plenty

Posted on June 12, 2008 by | Leave a comment

Green Party  ” Twenty is plenty” calls for 20mph speed limit outside schools as part of ‘children’s right to health safety, and justice’

At the council meeting of 26th June, Green Party councillor Matt Follett will ask the ruling administration to follow the example of cities like Portsmouth, Norwich, Lancaster, and Aberdeen and implement tougher speed restrictions in order to improve road safety, and suggest that we should particularly focus on child safety around schools.

Cllr Follett said “There are 3 key reasons why this is a good idea:

1)      Safety for children – The World Health Organisation has provided scientific evidence that the chances of pedestrian fatality are massively increased once you are above 20 mph

2)      Health – the national cycling body the CTC have stated that people would ride bikes and walk more if it wasn’t for safety concerns for children, so 20mph outside schools would help increase children’s health

3)      Social justice – the IPPR Streets Ahead report shows that child pedestrian injuries are four times as likely in poorer areas, than in richer areas.

Fellow Green party councillor and well known promoter of the benefits of cycling , Cllr  Phil Gordon, added “Anyone who cycles regularly knows that you would increase cycle use, which would impact on safety and health, the environment and congestion, if you reduced car speeds. Its common sense to take action that will make parents feel safer about their children cycling and walking.

Lets all get behind this and recognise that, to coin a phrase,  Twenty is plenty!”

Cllr Follett concluded “I want all parties at the council, and parents and schools, and the wider public, to get behind this, not get bogged down around issues of enforcement, and start taking positive action that will really kick start communities feeling confident in kids walking to school.  We need to have children’s rights to health, safety, and justice, and this would really help that.

Page 78 of WHO report “World Report on Road traffic Injury Prevention”

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Posted in Transport