Save the Railway Path

We've managed to pick up a draft map of what is being planned for Rapid Transit into the city centre from Ashton Vale:

Some points to note

1. Because there are already rails alongside the chocolate path, Ultralight Rail may be a good alternative to buses here.
2. The routing over the river, by the Create centre, appears to follow the track rather than the chocolate path itself.
3. See how the route goes round the city centre to Temple Meads? This would glue together a lot of the city centre. But there aren't rails there.

This is an exciting apolitical event celebrating the beauty of the natural habitat and physical environment along the Bristol-Bath Railway Path, via the activity of photography. The competition is open to beginner and amateur photographers of all ages and will be promoted to ethnic communities, the disabled and has a radical category for the blind. Details of the competition and launch date will be announced following completion of the website and poster campaign. Natural England, Mind, Sustrans, Life Cycle UK, Forest of Avon, Bristol City Council and Avon Frome Partnership have endorsed the event and the organiser is now seeking sponsorship and funding.
 
Please contact Martyn Whitelock stating your specific interest in the path and the amount of funding available. In return organisations will get publicity at a local level throughout Bristol and online. Martyn's email is : greentacks.photocomp@gmail.com

The procession (J Bewley/Sustrans used with permission)March ended with a procession celebrating the existence of the Railway Path in its current, much loved form. Our Celebration was said to have been the biggest demonstration in Bristol in recent years. Although the profile of the Path has been raised, media and council events have meant that there is now a public perception that the Path is no longer under threat, which is not true. Here's what took place:

• 28 March: a council announcement that implies the path may be left alone.
• 30 March: 1500 people come out to Celebrate the Railway path - showing the council how much it is appreciated.
• 1 April: the Council votes on the Green Party motion to stop buses on the path.

For anyone who wants to watch it, the council meeting video is online.

It is worth watching to see how decisions get made. Or more importantly, to see how, last year, the BRT engineering team managed to make some fundamental decisions on the city (the choice of the railway path to Emerson's Green) while the democratic oversight layer was too busy trying to score points off each other to notice what is happening.

Where do things stand now?

1. Half of the full Ashton-Vale to Emerson's Green route is under way. It is clear that extending the route east from the centre is an ultimate goal.
2. The Labour amendment pledges to protect the path from any changes that affect the number of walking/cycling users. No mention of preserving greenery, keeping it nice -numbers is all that matters, and presumably that is long-term users; what happens during the 3 years of BRT construction will be ignored.
3. There is no information on how that user count will be estimated. If it the consultant's "our 1980s PC is guaranteed to make BRT look good" software, then they could pull a number out of a hat that shows that BRT will increase users by giving people stations to walk to.
4. The West of England Partnership are still briefing councillors (and, we hear, people in London) about the Railway Path being their preferred route for BRT. For the councillors, they threaten them with what they would have to do to Fishpond's Road to justify the destruction of the path. They also claim that cycling will be enhanced by a wider path, and an extension to temple meads. The Temple Meads extension is something the Bristol Cycling Campaign have been pushing for ages, with the key choke point being the illegal barriers on Valentines Bridge -we don't need a bus lane to get it done. As for the 4m path width, well, they must still be using those artists impressions.
5. The Conservatives support BRT on the Railway Path, with this classic quote by Councillor Lewis:
   "How many have been to briefing sessions offered, probed the figures? If BRT is to run alongside the path, there will be advantages. The cycle path will be widened to 4m along its length and the missing link between Lawrence Hill and Temple Meads will be added."
6. The watering down amendment went through because of Conservative and Labour Party votes.
7. A number of councillors who had promised their support for us voted for the watering-down amendment: Fabian Breckels (St George East) Faruk Choudhury (Easton) John Deasy (St George West) Brenda Hugill (Lawrence Hill) Bill Payne (Frome Vale) Ron Stone (St George West) Rosalie Walker (Horfield). This is clearly very disappointing. It would only have taken a few abstentions for the amendment not to have gone through. Residents of those wards may wish to enquire about their reasons for voting this way.
8. There is now a Cycling/Walking champion in Terry Cook. Terry does cycle in from Kingsweston, so he does understand some aspects of the problem, although his apparent lack of knowledge of the Chocolate Path, a route threatened by the Ashton-Vale part of the BRT plans is worrying: it is, after all, how you'd get from Avonmouth to College Green if you cycled on the bus-free side of the Avon Gorge.
9. We have some support on our side from Kerry McCarthy, MP for Bristol East, who is speaking up for us in London.

If you listen to the Labour group in the council, the amended motion implies the path will be protected. But why, then, do we get the Conservatives -who appear to support BRT-on-path- speaking and voting for the motion, and why do we get the following quotes in the debate from Mark Bradshaw:

"Any notion of a traditional diesel bus running on a road alongside the path or taking over the path is unacceptable"

"No decision has been taken to share the cycle path with Rapid Transit. No awards have been made. Full and fair consultation will take place on all the options. BCC have no preferred option other than the goal to bring BRT to the city at the earliest opportunity."

These are phrases that imply we have misunderstood what is being planned. If we were only to realise that a quarter of the buses that would run alongside the path would be bendy-buses with hybrid-diesel engines, all would be well.  And that scares us, because it implies that someone, somewhere, still has a map of the Railway Path pinned up on their wall, with a BRT route drawn over the top of it. They may have another route pinned up next to it, with a little post-it note "build this one first -Mark" stuck on top, but the plan is still there.

There's no way to be sure that the plans are in the bin until the Railway Path has the same legal protection as the Downs.

We want this. We don't want the bus plans being put to one side until the June 2009, once those little elections are out the way whoever the new council is get the green light to do what they want. No, we want to know that not only have we stopped the plans this time, we have stopped them forever.

And that is what, with your help, we are going to do.