Bristol's transport challenges taken to Shadow Minister

A few weeks ago, I contacted Stephen Hammond, the Shadow Minister for rail , and asked him to come down and have a look at the success of the more frequent Severn Beach line service - and told him all about our campaign to get Henbury Station and the Henbury Loop line open.

So here we all are, Stephen Hammond MP,with Avonmouth Council Candidate Siobhan Kennedy-Hall, Bernard Lane, Julie Boston, me, Rob Dixon ( members of FOSBR ) outside Angels Transport Cafe, at Avonmouth Station, having enjoyed a proper fry-up. (well, one of us.)

Stephen traveled up to Temple Meads on the line, and in discussion assured us that a Conservative Government would put a moratorium on the sale of railway land - so that the sale of the Henbury station site would be prohibited. Too late for Henbury. But it was good to hear Stephen so supportive of getting local rail services up and running again. The campaign goes on...

Waking the sleeping giant: Getting Bristol Back On Track!

On Friday 21st, members of FOSBR gathered at Wilder House, home of the West of England Partnership, to issue a rallying cry for funding for a Portishead-North Bristol Rail Loop line to be included in the bid for Government funding.

As one railway worker put it, Bristol railway network is a sleeping giant. There is a railway infrastructure running in and around the city, with disused stations like Henbury just waiting to be used. With 2,500 houses planned for the area just North of Henbury, as part of a 33,000 house building plan in the area; with Bristol Zoo development to take place at the top of Blackhorse Hill - having a railway service across North Bristol is a no-brainer.

I will be writing to the Chair of the South West Regional Assembly to make the case for the line, and hopefully members of other political parties will be doing the same. It's time for the sleeping giant to wake up. It's time to get Bristol back on track.

Don't slam the coffin-lid on the future of Bristol rail!

.........It all makes sense. The city is gridlocked in traffic, we face a potential congestion charge that will hit the poorest hardest, just when fuel prices are rising and families are struggling to pay the bills. Everyone is looking for a long-term solution to the ever increasing traffic, and Bristol's reliance on the car.

So Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways are mounting a campaign, which I have been supporting, to reopen the existing and derelict Henbury station, as part of a projected Portishead and Henbury loop passenger/ freight line.

So it was with amazement and dismay that we discovered that far from resurrecting disused stations as part of a plan to get Bristol and Britain greener and moving again, the Government has sold-off Henbury station, as part of sell-offs of stations across the country. This is in effect slamming the coffin-lid on the future of local rail infrastructure. It is tragically short sighted, and little short of madness.

However, the battle is not over yet. I, and members of FOSBR and local campaigners will contest the grounds of the sale of Henbury station in a bid to keep hope alive for a rail system for the area. Particularly since in the same breath, the Government is planning two and a half thousand houses in the area just north of Henbury. You would think that re-opening Henbury station would actually be a priority, given the huge extra burden on the roads that this development would entail. That's why we'll fight so hard against the grounds of the sale, and for the resurrection of a local rail infrastructure Bristol can be proud of.

There are two things you can do to help!
1. Get in touch with FOSBR ( severnbeach@hotmail.co.uk or call 0117 9428637) to see how you can sign one of their postcard campaign cards

2. Come to the rally on 21st November, at Wilder House, Wilder Street, Bristol BS2 8P where FOSBR and local campaigners will be making their voice heard and lobbying James White, the Group Leader of Transport Policy at the West of England Partnership.

Come and speak out for a long-term vision for Bristol Transport.

Knowing me, Knowing you

First of all, I've been getting to know the area and everyone who lives here. This is my home, where I've been for over a twenty-five years, and I thought I knew pretty much everything there was to know about Bristol North West. Wrong. There is so much going on. It never ceases to amaze me how many people and community groups are doing really fantastic work. I've been visiting as many of you as possible and learning from your work.


IF YOU RUN A COMMUNITY GROUP, OR LOCAL CHARITY, AND THINK I COULD LEARN FROM YOUR WORK, OR LEND SOME SUPPORT, DO GET IN TOUCH!


Save our Special Schools campaign:
I launched my first major campaign to prevent the closure of a special educational needs (SEN) school in Bristol, and presented a petition of over 700 signatures to Bristol City Council.

Bristol City Council was looking to cut costs on SEN by closing down one of its special schools. The Council's record on SEN is pretty bad. Parents of children with SEN in Bristol are more likely to have to go to the Special Educational Needs Tribunal (SENDIST) to appeal against the Council's decision on their child's school, than anywhere else in the country outside London.

Campaigning in the rain to Save Special Schools ( We make a glamorous bunch, eh?)

For many children with SEN, mainstream school is the right option. But for others, physical inclusion in a mainstream school really means social and mental exclusion. There are some really great SEN units running in mainstream schools that are attached to Special Schools like Kingsweston, and Claremont - but there are still hundreds of parents struggling to get their child into a Special School. The answer to better SEN provision is not to close one of them down!
If you would like to know more about the campaign and the petition, go to the epetition site,http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/SOSS/

The petition featured in the Evening Post and on BBC West's The Politics Show.


FOSBR Twice Hourly Train Campaign:
Spot the Conservative Candidate...

Friends of Bristol Suburban Rail (FOSBR) ran a highly successful campaign to get two trains running per hour on the Avonmouth to Templemeads line.

I supported them in lobbying the Lib Dem council to return the subsidy for another train.
Finding alternatives to the car is absolutely crucial- but it amazes me that we should be spending so much money on 'Showcase Bus Routes' when we have a superb railway infrastructure sitting on our doorstep. FOSBR are right. We should be making the most of it.
When did you last take the Severn Beach line into town? It's quick and the scenery is amazing. Try it!
For more information, go to http://www.fosbr.org.uk/