June 2014 Newsletter

A round up of news and views

Yes - I support the Marlborough Rail link! So far, almost 300 people have taken the trouble to sign up in support of our proposal, most of whom have left extremely compelling comments that will be passed onto Claire Perry M. P. and the Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership, in due course. It would be great to double this number by the end of July, when the petition closes. Please click here... to add your support, if you haven't already done so and ask your friends and family to do the same. You can also access this link via our Facebook page.

Direct train service to London threatened: Last week Sam and Bill (from Bedwyn Train Passengers Group) attended a meeting with representatives from the DfT, Network Rail and First Group to find out more about the future of the direct train services between Bedwyn and London Paddington. Tamara, from M.P., Claire Perry's office, also joined us. We found out that although £6 billion is available for up-grading the Great Western Railway, electrification will stop at Newbury by 2016, as there is 'no money to extend it to Bedwyn' (even though the cost is estimated to be just £100 million and the positive economic case for doing so has been accepted by the government). The man from the DfT promised that there would be 'no reduction in services as a result of electrification'. However, Bedwyn passengers were then offered 2 choices: change at Newbury or change at Reading... you can view Transition Marlborough's response to the DfT's consultation, here...

Stonebridge Meadow - has been in the local news a lot recently, as some people would like to see part of it drained and used as a football pitch. Click here... to have your say on the future of this wetland nature reserve.

Traffic pollution in Marlborough: Wiltshire Council is planning to install a particulate detector on a lamp post in Herd Street, as well as new digital nitrogen dioxide detectors outside Lloyds Bank, where buses often idle their engines, near St Peter's School and along Herd Street. The readings from these detectors can be read remotely and accessed via the internet, as they provide pollution levels in real time. It is well known that nitrogen dioxide levels are often above the safe limit on Herd Street, so if you know anyone who has a health problem that may be exacerbated by air pollution, please let me know: sampage_zim@yahoo.co.uk We also need people to identify which buses idle their engines for longer than 4 minutes on the High Street, just make a note of the time, date and bus number and send your results to: transport@transitionmarlborough.org

Thanks

The Transition Marlborough team