Portishead Line reopening for passengers - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[chuffed]

An excellent summary of the current situation.
However the only bus service (X4) connecting Portishead to Bristol now takes 1 hour and 20 minutes even on a good day. Even more evidence, if any were needed, that the railway can't come soon enough. Does everyone know that this town of getting on to 30,000 inhabitants hasn't had any sort of a Post Office for the last 18 months? Another example of over development outstripping infrastructure !

[chuffed]

I have moved this from 'And also 'in order to give it more prominence, as so many people liked it. It refers to what I think Lord Peter Hendy should be doing about the Portishead line.

In that case, he should be arguing the case really vigorously with Reeves and Haigh for a scheme that is 25 years old, runs to 27000 pages and is 7.5km long if each sheet was laid end to end. ....double the length of track in question. I have challenged the Chancellor to join me at 7am on the average weekday morning to travel out of Portishead...perhaps then she might see that this scheme does not deserve to be sacrificed on the altar of her political expediency.
{like} liked by Mark A, Witham Bobby, Richard Fairhurst, rogerw, Western Pathfinder, Timmer, eightonedee, Red Squirrel, johnneyw, PhilWakely, Andy E, TaplowGreen

[Phantom]

The fightback begins.....



Dear Member,

The Public Petition supporting funding for the Portishead line is now live and will be presented to Parliament in September by Sadik Al-Hassan, MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) for North Somerset.

The petition has to be created in a specific way and there are some changes that you need to know about as a result.

The most important is that the petition must have the original, handwritten signatures, names and addresses of the petitioners (photocopies and electronic signatures are not permitted). This means we need lots of people personally gathering signatures, which PRG will then collate and pass to our MP to take to Parliament.

We are inviting our members to collect as many signatories as they feel able to gather and then return the completed sheets to us. We quite understand if you are unable or unwilling to do this, but will appreciate as much help as we can get. We will also be out on the streets gathering signatures as well, in Pill this Saturday morning and in Portishead on various days. Thank you to all those who've offered to help with this.

There is also a rally at Temple Meads being planned by the Bristol Rail Campaign (formerly FOSBR^▸ (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways)) at 7pm on Tuesday 27th August. More information on this will follow when we have it.

If you'd like to help by collecting signatures from your circle of friends, family and organisations, here's what you need to know:
You can find the petition and a briefing note explaining it here:  www.portisheadrailwaygroup.org/petition.html
Please print off as many copies as you need, but do not alter the petition form in any way.
If you are unable to print copies, let me know and we'll physically get you some.
The PRG Frequently Asked Questions document has been updated and can be found on the PRG website. This may help with any questions you need answered.
Please check that people only sign once, no matter how often they've seen the petition.
Please collect complete sheets of signatures if possible and minimise half filled sheets by stopping, or working with other PRG members to share and fill whole pages.
The closing date is Sunday 25th August (10 days time!) and you can either return sheets to me by post ASAP or drop-off (8 Little Halt, Portishead. BS20 8JQ) or to any PRG signature collector on Tuesday 27th Aug.
Tuesday August 27th is Petition Day! This will be our main public signature day and we're aiming to cover Portishead High St, Sainsbury, Waitrose, Kestrel Court, Folk Hall etc. We will then head for Bristol to collect more signatures at the Temple Meads rally.
Other public signing days like Pill can happen as well of course.
PRG will then collate all the signature sheets for Sadik Al-Hassan to present to Parliament at the earliest opportunity.
We'll send more details on the Bristol Rail Campaign rally and other public signing events when we have them. Please ask if you have questions.

The petition states:
‘… Reopening the Portishead branch line is necessary to reduce traffic on the congested roads between Portishead and Bristol; reducing such traffic would lead to lower CO2 emissions, thus benefitting the environment; and is needed to encourage investment and economic growth in Portishead and the greater Bristol area.
 
The petitioners therefore request the House of Commons to urge His Majesty’s Government to recognise the considerable work already performed to reopen the Portishead branch line; to recognise the public funding already invested in it; and to ensure that the necessary central government funding is provided to reopen the Portishead branch line’


Thanks for your support.

Does a petition actually influence any decision making?
Surely is all comes down to budgets?

[WelshBluebird]

Does a petition actually influence any decision making?
Surely is all comes down to budgets?

A budget is nothing other than choices of where to spend the available money. For comparisons sake, from what i can tell, the Restoring Your Railways fund was going to provide significantly less money to the station development than what say bristol council have recently spend on refurbishing the bristol beacon. It's all about the choices made. The relevant local authorities and other organisations can easily decide to spend money on this over other things. It's just priorities.

[Chris from Nailsea]

See also https://bristolrailcampaign.org.uk/portishead-railway-needs-your-support/

[chuffed]

Come on Coffee Shop members ...get yourselves down to Temple Meads tonight,join the rally and sign the petition !

Dear Member,

Thank you to everyone who is collecting signatures for the Public Petition to Parliament. We're hearing impressive examples of members gathering more than 100 signatures at a time!
 
We now have permission to collect outside Waitrose (but not Sainsbury) and will be in the Precinct on Tuesday morning. If you would be willing to help at either of these locations for an hour or two any time over the next 4 days, please reply now to this e-mail with the times and date you can offer.

The petition sheet and briefing note are here : www.portisheadrailwaygroup.org/petition.html
The total signatures received so far will also soon appear there.

Thanks very much for your support. A reminder of all the key information is below.

Regards,
Peter
 
Peter Maliphant
Membership Secretary
Portishead Railway Group

Collecting Signatures
You can carry on collecting until Friday 30th August, but please make sure you hand your sheets in by Friday at one of the locations below. If you’re in the Portishead area and unable to do this, let me know and we can arrange to pick them up any time.
 
Returning your signature sheets
Completed sheets can be dropped off at any time that these locations are open:
 
SoleLution, High Street
Westcoast Properties (opposite Waitrose garage)
Pure Offices reception, Kestrel Court
Portishead Town Council reception, upstairs at the Folk Hall.
 
Pill Resource centre, 4 Baltic Place, Pill. BS20 0EJ
Portishead Railway Petition, 17 St John’s Rd, Clifton. BS8 2ET
 
Petition details
The petition is formally for ‘persons desiring reopening of the Portishead railway branch line’ – so anyone can sign it and there are no rules about age or location.

The petition states:
‘… Reopening the Portishead branch line is necessary to reduce traffic on the congested roads between Portishead and Bristol; reducing such traffic would lead to lower CO2 emissions, thus benefitting the environment; and is needed to encourage investment and economic growth in Portishead and the greater Bristol area.
 
The petitioners therefore request the House of Commons to urge His Majesty’s Government to recognise the considerable work already performed to reopen the Portishead branch line; to recognise the public funding already invested in it; and to ensure that the necessary central government funding is provided to reopen the Portishead branch line’

[johnneyw]

Thanks for the reminder.  I'll get myself down there for 19.00.

[johnneyw]

60 years ago yesterday since closure.


https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/portishead-railway-fight-60-years-9536703

[grahame]

60 years ago yesterday since closure.


https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/portishead-railway-fight-60-years-9536703

We don't normally *do* too many closures in "On this day" - but I have added this one so that it will come up next year.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Disused tracks donated to help heritage railway


The track was unsuitable for the modern trains which might one day return to Portishead

Sections of a disused railway line between Bristol and Portishead have been donated to a heritage railway.

Volunteers at the Avon Valley Railway, based in Bitton, lifted the tracks, which are not suitable for modern trains.

The original Portishead line closed in the 1960s, and there are plans to re-instate it, though these are currently in limbo after recent government announcements.

Alan Matthews, Chair of the Avon Valley Railway Company, said: “This generous donation will be used to improve our railway infrastructure."

Plans to restore the railway to Portishead have been ongoing for years, but were recently under threat after the new Labour government announced it was axing a scheme to re-build old railway lines.

Councillor Mike Bell, Leader of North Somerset Council said: "We are still having conversations with our partners and with government and await further details of the scheme’s review.  I’m glad the old rails will find a good use on the Avon Valley Railway."

A full business case to re-open the Portishead line is ongoing for submission to the Department for Transport.


Volunteers from the Avon Valley Railway will use it at their station in Bitton

The Avon Valley Railway runs for three miles between Bristol and Bath on the former Midland line.  It celebrated its 50th birthday earlier this year.

Avon Valley Railway Trustee Joseph Dean said: “With the donated track we are looking to launch our yard remodelling at Bitton, which will see tracks adjusted for more efficient storage.  Remaining track will be used for track renewals and potentially further restoration of the historic route in the future.”

[chuffed]

From the Portishead Railway Group



Dear Member,
 
Thank you to everyone who signed and helped gather signatures for the Public Petition to restore the missing funding for the Portishead and Pill line reopening.
 
We ended up with 5,604 signatures, collected in just over 2 weeks. The petition was handed to Sadik Al-Hassan, MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) for North Somerset, and he has told us that he will be delivering it in Parliament this Thursday.
 
Just to be clear, in the light of some comments in the press and social media, the reopening project is under review. It has not been cancelled and the majority of the funding remains in place.
 
We have no timetable for the spending review that is currently underway, but we assume it will be completed before the October budget. All our local councils and MPs continue to support the reopening project and will be exerting whatever influence they have.
 
As our petition stated, the project offers important benefits to Portishead, Pill and the wider Bristol area, benefitting the environment, reducing congestion and emissions and encouraging investment and economic growth.
 
The foolishness of stopping a project that has 10 years’ work already completed and over £32 million already spent is not hard to see. The project to reopen the railway to Portishead and Pill is ready for construction to start and, given the necessary funding, could deliver a flagship completed reopening and operational railway in less than three years.

Regards,
Peter
 
Peter Maliphant
Membership Secretary
Portishead Railway Group

[chuffed]

Sadik al Hassan presented the petition the day before, on Wednesday 11th September.

[chuffed]

Dan Norris quietly confident Portishead will happen....

“There is cost stability now of around £150 million and we are in a strong position to proceed with that, but it’s not a guarantee because that’s a decision that’s being made against other projects up and down the land.

“But what I am confident about saying is that I would argue our Portishead line is so close to starting that it puts it in a good position to go forward.

“They were clearing the trackside of trees and various other foliage with a view to doing significant things in the spring and getting on with the tracks.

“We’ve very close to doing it. That puts us in a strong position because we’re literally at the point of putting shovels in the ground.

“Economically it makes a lot of sense compared to the other lines that are in contention against us.”

He said the government would make a priority list of railway projects currently under threat of not happening.

Mr Norris, also MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) for North East Somerset & Hanham, said: “Nothing is done until it’s done.

“You think you’ve got it and then somehow it slips out of grasp but we’re very close and I’m quietly confident.”

[Andy]

Dan Norris quietly confident Portishead will happen....

“There is cost stability now of around £150 million and we are in a strong position to proceed with that, but it’s not a guarantee because that’s a decision that’s being made against other projects up and down the land.

“But what I am confident about saying is that I would argue our Portishead line is so close to starting that it puts it in a good position to go forward.

“They were clearing the trackside of trees and various other foliage with a view to doing significant things in the spring and getting on with the tracks.

“We’ve very close to doing it. That puts us in a strong position because we’re literally at the point of putting shovels in the ground.

“Economically it makes a lot of sense compared to the other lines that are in contention against us.”

He said the government would make a priority list of railway projects currently under threat of not happening.

Mr Norris, also MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) for North East Somerset & Hanham, said: “Nothing is done until it’s done.

“You think you’ve got it and then somehow it slips out of grasp but we’re very close and I’m quietly confident.”

New Forest East (Fawley-Hythe) - Tory MP
North Somerset (Portishead) - Labour MP

Just saying....