Save the Railway Path

Welcome to the "Save the Railway Path" Announcements List!

We have finally managed to transcribe all the hundreds of email addresses from the meeting in Easton, and are now trying to set up the online aspects of our campaign. This mailing list is for announcements -it will be restricted to a few messages a week; at most one per day.

So, what's been happening? We're just getting started, but here's a quick run down:

-We've a web site: http://www.railwaypath.org/
  Keep an eye on this for news and forthcoming events

-There's going to be a Celebration of The Path on Sunday March 30th. This is not a protest, it is a "we like the path as its, thank you!" event. The details are still being finalised, so watch the web site or mailing list (see below) to keep involved. We invite people from Bath and beyond to cycle as far as Fishponds, from where we hope we can have a big procession to the end of the path. Help organising this is very welcome.

The March 30 Celebration is important as the following day, April 1, the council will be voting on a motion by Bristol's sole green councillor, Charlie Bolton. a motion, which if the council votes for it, will have them tell the West of England Partnership to leave the railway path out of their plans. Even if we don't win this motion, it will force the councillors to show us which side they are on. Then we can start working on them one by one.

Politics-wise, the Green and Liberal Democrat Parties in the council are now against the bus plan, according to their press releases. In a very welcome development, Bristol East MP Kerry McCarthy now also appears to be against it, though her comment the "I hope a solution can be found that will meet our public transport objectives and keep walkers and cyclists happy." worries us [1]. The solution we want is no buses on our path. And no matter what is said about planned West of England Partnership consultation, they've targeted the railway path since last july at the expense of all other routes and options. When that consultation comes it will probably be a poster in some library where we get to choose what colour of bus we want to see.

We have also got a letter of support from the Rambler's association. This organisation is strongly supportive of public transport to and from places to walk, yet we are happy to see their support because they too realise that if you run buses along the path, it wouldn't be a path you'd actually want to walk along. And which is better: the opportunity to see the countryside at the end of a bus journey, or a bit of nature deep inside the city itself?

Now, how can all of you help?

1. Come along to our events: http://www.railwaypath.org/event
2. Get on our mailing list : http://www.railwaypath.org/node/22
3. Convince your local councillor to support us. Find out who they are, send them postcards, email them, try and meet them and argue the case with them.
4. Help us raise money. We need to be able to get leaflets printed, rooms rented and fund other events. We have no money right now, and that limits our ability to act.
5. If you haven't got your friends and family to fill in the council petition, now is the time to do it: http://epetitions.bristol.gov.uk/petition.php?id=161
It is already the biggest ever online petition the council has seen, but we want over 10,000 names;  hundreds from every ward in Bristol. We want every councillor to know that their majority is at risk unless they get the West of England Partnership to kill this daft plan.

At this stage in the campaign, we need to focus on Bristol council. They need to know that the BRT proposal is unacceptable to everyone who uses the path, to the people who live alongside it. to the kids that walk to school along it, and the cyclists from all over Bristol. The discovery that such an idea was being planned has united all of us -together we can get the council to come to its senses.

Hoping to see everyone on March 30th,