Entries Tagged 'travel' ↓

Gavin Maculure has a good piece on the  Friday Railway Chaos.  As someone who was also caught up in the Friday railway chaos, I won’t rehash the frustration.  However Gavin’s quite right to point out that it is rather frustrating to be told that nothing can be done.  Here are two starts:
1) Stop building the High Speed 2 line, at least until it can be fully privately funded and use some of that saved money to make incremental improvements on transport pinch points across the country

2) Allow succesful railway companies to own railway track rather than have this ridiculous enforced seperation of train and track.  Sadly this won’t include National Express, but it could include a succesor. A system of safeguards for competition issues is preferable to the present system where the operator is only indirectly incentivised to improve the infrastructure. I know that the European Union will not like it – as it was the European Union that insisted on it in the first place  –  but at some time the UK should start acting as a net contributor rather than pretending to be some kind of supplicant to the Belgian empire.

Anyone who has travelled on British Rail (as I did for every school day from 11 to 18) can not wish to go back to that.  The unions may well want to go back, but I doubt that’s through any concern for the travelling public.

Unintentionally proving my point about Ipswich Spy bringing some coherance to the Ipswich blogosphere the Spy put up a piece on the new perks for Labour supporters that our councillor Phil Smart has instituted in Ipswich Buses.  I wonder if the design contracts will be helping out a little more directly?

Gavin Maclure and Kevin Algar responded to this piece in the comments section, Kevin also wrote a piece in his blog.  Gavin’s comments were more interesting.  “Why on earth does a council own a bus company if it isn’t trying to create a socialist ideal?” 

Now I have no illusions that Ipswich Labour is not infested by fist clenching God haters, but Ipswich Buses is owned by the council because we’ve had six years of a Tory led council that could never privatise. 

There were lots of good reasons why Ipswich buses were not privatised under Tory leadership.  Wholesale privatisation would have lost the council in one fell swoop.  The partnership with Go Ahead had the merit that Ipswich Buses would have kept it’s independence and identity and been a stronger entity but the credit crunch meant that it couldn’t happen.

I’m quite convinced that Labour will privatise Ipswich Buses in some form.  It’s a fiscal time bomb for them and they could see the collapse of the service under their watch otherwise.  They are not stupid, and even if they were Chris Mole and Malcolm Robson knows what happens to small municipal bus companies.  They get picked off by bigger operators offering cheap fares and higher wages.  A collapse of the company or an open financial wound – both of which the Conservatives managed to decisively avoid – would not help Labour one jot. 

Could you imagine the Tory campaign in the post collapse borough election(s) in Chantry and Maidenhall if Ipswich Buses went the same way as municipal bus companies Barrow or Darlington? 

Ipswich Buses will be part privatised by Labour because they have enough political capital to do so but not enough political capital to risk a collapse.  Just don’t expect for it to be called a privatisation.

It was Pentecost Sunday yesterday, and in St Pancras it was also First Holy Communion.  However Ipswich Council spent thousands of pounds to make Ipswich impossible for car drivers to get to church.  The dominant image of that day were lots of people with IBC jackets (if paid, on Sunday pay) making it impossible to get around town.

I doubt that  Labour Councillors spend a lot of time on religion, except perhaps to bemoan their parents’ attachment to it, but the money that is spent on these stunts really adds up.  The Conservative groups on both councils should also wean themselves off these stupid wastes of money.

Bryony Rudkin loved it.  But then, it’s your money.

When is Suffolk Pride, and when can we cut it?

In the last budget the income tax personal allowance was raised substantially, a move that overwhelmingly benefited those on or above the minimum wage.  Ed Balls, speaking for Labour, called for income taxes to keep hitting those just avove the minimum wage  to enable VAT to be kept down for people on Ed Balls’ salary – MPs pays a larger proportion of their income in VAT than someone on the minimum wage.

Not a single Labour politician slapped Ed Balls down, although in private both Alastair Darling and Ed Miliband have argued for a rise in VAT in cabinet.

Now Councillor Phil Smart – the Holywells Resident Councillor for Bridge Ward –  thinks we have another reason to tax those just above the minimum wage. He wants shop assistants to pay higher income taxes  to lower the train fares that people like myself and Phil Smart pay to get to work.  Both of us commute, both of us are stung by the higher fares and both of us earn above the average wage – like most commuters.

I don’t like paying higher fares, but I recognise that to get Gordon Brown’s deficit down I have to.  I also think that people like me and Phil Smart are better placed to pay to get this deficit down than a part time working mother struggling to pay child care or a pensioner with a few thousand extra a year in their work provided pension.  Phil Smart thinks that they should pay before he does.

Labour have for years been a party of white collar public sector middle managers who think that the rest of the country should revolve around them.  Phil Smart is a white collar public sector worker on an above average salary who thinks that you should continue subsidising his rail fares.

Workers of the World - Subsidise Me

Thanks to Waterfront Action, there’s a schedule of the roadworks planned in Ipswich on the internet in once place (pdf).  Here are the details in Bridge:

Anglian Water

24 Hour Emergency Number: 08457 145145

I’ve been saying, both on this blog and whenever someone’s asked me, that Phil Smart is someone who is dedicated to public transport and who really cares about that issue.  The problem that I have with him, and another councillor, is that they see Bridge as a platform and not an end in itself.  It’s very easy when you don’t live there.

Consider this, from the council agenda for Wednesday:

To consider the following motion moved by Councillor P Smart:

This Council notes with concern the decision of Suffolk County Council to close Bury Road Park and Ride and calls on the Executive of Ipswich Borough Council to work with local bus operators and others to establish a replacement service from this site.”

This will involve quite a considerable amount of money being spent on Norwich Road bus routes.  This may be a perfectly good thing for a councillor who represents the Norwich Road area to be doing, but this is money that Suffolk or Ipswich will not have to help Wherstead Road, which has a far more pressing issue with the buses.  The most frustrating thing about this is that Wherstead Road would need very little extra money, instead needing  co-ordination with the bus companies to space out their services.  Something that stupid EU regulations insist that  councillors need to be involved in.

Park and Ride is very nice, but shouldn’t there be some focus closer to home?  Or failing that, closer to your ward?

Related articles

• Suffolk: Bus routes face the axe (eadt.co.uk)
• Council to ‘outsource everything’ (bbc.co.uk)

I’m getting a few searches with school names, which I suspect is about school closures.  If you want the main page for this then it is here:

Suffolk School closures (including Ipswich)

So far we have:

Halifax Primary School – Open

Hillside Primary School – Open

Stoke High School – Open at 9.50

Suffolk One – Open

St Alban’s Catholic High School – Open but with extended registration

St Mark’s Catholic Primary School – Open

St Matthew’s CEVAP School – Open

—–

It’s very important that you only use this blog as a guide, to get the definitive picture go to this page:

Suffolk School closures (including Ipswich)

It’s in alphabetical order by name of school.  Using the find function (control and F) will get you there faster.

And for the gritted roads follow the instructions in the Gritter map in Ipswich post.

Where’s the gritter going?  Well here’s an old post that gives you instructions to find out whether your route is being gritted (I think I’ve used as many keywords as possible):

http://bridgeward.org.uk/gritted-road-routes-in-ipswich/

I’ve tried it out, it still works.  It’s not very intuitive so do try to follow the instructions.

From the Waterfront Action Group:

Following an investigation into a package of rights of way claims around the Docks area submitted by Suffolk Rights of way Ltd, a detailed report was presented to the Rights of Way Committee in March 2009. The Committee resolved to make 5 orders which were made on 14 July 2009 and several objections subsequently received.

Following submission of the orders and objections to the Planning Inspectorate a 6 day public inquiry has been arranged, commencing on Tuesday 7 December and running until Friday 10 December, reconvening on Wed 15 December and again on Tues 21 December if necessary.

Suffolk County Council (SCC) will be supporting the 5 orders it has made (3 restricted byways and two double cul-de-sac footpaths). There are seven formal objectors, including Associated British Ports, Neptune Marina, Anglo Nordern and Suffolk Rights of Way Ltd (the original claimants).

The Inquiry will be held at the Conference Room, IP City Centre, Bath Street, Ipswich and SCC’s external advocate is Gordon Nardell QC.

The Inspector conducting the Inquiry is Barney Grimshaw. The purpose of the Inquiry is to enable Mr Grimshaw to hear and consider all of the evidence for and against the published orders. He will subsequently issue a decision letter advising whether he has confirmed them as made, confirm them with modifications or declined to confirm them. It is important to note that the legislation does not allow for any other evidence, such as desirability or environmental grounds, to be considered at the Inquiry, which will deal exclusively with the documentary and user evidence in support and against the routes being added to the Ipswich Definitive Map as public rights of way.

Anyone who wishes to give evidence at the PI will have to comply with some fairly rigid timescales. Anyone who has made an objection or representation or who wishes to give evidence must submit a Statement of Case to the Planning Inspectorate by 1 October. The Inspectorate will circulate that. Those wishing to give evidence must then ensure that their proofs of evidence are with the Inspectorate by 9 November. The purpose of this timescale (which is in accordance with the relevant Statutory Instrument) is to ensure that there are no surprises, that everyone knows what is being asserted, and that things run as efficiently as possible. An individual member of the public who is called to give evidence (eg evidence of use) does not have to notify the Inspectorate; it is for the person calling the witness to do that. It is up to the Inspector to decide whether to allow people who turn up on the day and wish to give evidence to be able do so, where they have not given due notice.

The contact details are: The Planning Inspectorate, Room 4/05, Kite Wing, Temple Quay House, 2 The Square, Temple Quay, Bristol, BS1 6PN; tel 0117 372 6353 (Jean McEntee); email jean.mcentee@pins.gsi.gov.uk. Their reference is FPS/V3500/7/303. It would probably be a good idea for any prospective participant to contact the Inspectorate informally as soon as possible and to clarify whether he wants to give evidence on proposed RBs 36, 37 or 38, or proposed FPs 39 or 40.

As someone who gets in trouble for putting up funny looking pictures of Ben Gummer I will refrain from putting this one up, and will suggest that you go to the Ben on a Bike website.  How old does he look?

The cause is far better than the photo.  He’s going around The East Anglia Children’s Hospice is a cause that is well worth supporting.  Human life needs to be nurtured at all points from conception to death and the Hospice movement is a rare bit of unalloyed good news in the culture of late twentieth century Britain.