Random Stuff!

[TheLocalYokel]

The axing of the HS2 leg to Leeds has understandably provoked much anger and there are many posts about it in the LBA forum. Wales too feels let down by the Westminster government, with a railway example being the lack of electrification between Cardiff and Swansea as discussed in the CWL forum this evening.

It's not just the north of England, particularly West Yorkshire, and Wales.

The peripheral region of South West England is arguably worse off than Wales because it has no government or secretary of state at Westminster to at least try to fight its case. Plymouth for example has no motorway and no airport and the main railway line requires an hour to cover the 40 miles to Exeter such is its tortuous layout.

In 2017 when Hammond was chancellor and Grayling transport minister they axed electrification of the western section of Brunel's main line meaning that Bristol and Bath have to rely on diesel traction until goodness knows when in the future, as does the 5.5 million population of the UK government region of the South West. Abandonment was after many millions of pounds had been spent on preparing the track, stations, bridges and tunnels for electrification. The axing savings would amount to little more than petty cash for the HS2 project.

Peripheral regions of England such as the South West and East Anglia are largely ignored when it comes to 'levelling up' discussions. Today the prime minister was interviewed for BBC tv News when travelling by train. In his usual blustering way he tried to tell us all that abandoning the Leeds section of HS2 was a good thing because the money could be spent on other rail projects in the North that would give travellers in that part of England the sort of excellent rail options enjoyed by those in the South for so long.

South West England is in 'the South' and I've yet to see those excellent rail options here. Aside from the Bristol/Bath-Paddington route which as I mentioned is still operated by diesel traction in those city regions rail travel in the South West is abysmal with grossly overcrowded trains in the main centres of population at rush hour times.

The trouble is the South West does not have a label like 'The North' or Wales.

 

[Jerry]

The peripheral region of South West England is arguably worse off than Wales

This is the problem for England especially in that it's relying on central government to prioritise what in their minds are peripheral regions and as shown with rail investment nothing happens.

Brunel's main line meaning that Bristol and Bath

My first run yesterday was 2 drops to Bath and I drove along the A4 and you can see the preparation work that was done. It looks a bit odd to the structure for electrification in place but not I'm use.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

This is the problem for England especially in that it's relying on central government to prioritise what in their minds are peripheral regions and as shown with rail investment nothing happens.

The government South West Region (it's now only in place for statistical purposes) is a huge area geographically (the largest of the English regions in area) stretching as it does from Gloucestershire to Cornwall/Isles of Scilly and east to Wiltshire and Dorset. The northern tip of Gloucestershire is as close to the Scottish border as it is to Lands End at the other end of the region.

It's a disparate region, largely rural or semi-rural. Its largest concentrations of population are around Bristol/Bath/Weston-super-Mare (sometimes referred to as Greater Bristol), Bournemouth/Poole (odd that this South Coast resort is in the South West government region but its ceremonial county is Dorset - it used to be in Hampshire) and Plymouth, with three smaller but economically important centres at Exeter, Swindon and Gloucester/Cheltenham.

Apart from Bristol none of these centres of population exceeds half a million.

My first run yesterday was 2 drops to Bath and I drove along the A4 and you can see the preparation work that was done. It looks a bit odd to the structure for electrification in place but not I'm use.

Before Hammond and Grayling axed the electrification along that stretch of the line, the Bristol TM-London Paddington line via Bath was closed for six weeks for electrification enabling work to be carried out at such places as Bath Spa station and the Box Tunnel. During that period all Bristol TM-London trains ran on the South Wales main line via Bristol Parkway and the Sodbury Tunnel with bus links from the Bath area.

The reason given by government was that money saved could be better spent on local rail projects - we are yet to see evidence of that four years on - and trains could not run at 125 mph between Bristol and Bath or through the Box Tunnel. They can't in the first few miles out of Paddington either but that didn't stop that section being electrified. Apart from the benefits of electric over diesel for the environment electric trains have a greater rate of acceleration.

Given the PM's continuing gestures to climate change the very least that should happen on the South West's railways is electrification of the Bristol TM via Bath line to Paddington; the link line between TM and Bristol Parkway; the main line from Paddington to Exeter, Plymouth and Cornwall via Westbury, Wiltshire - it's already electrified between Paddington and Newbury in Berkshire; the north-south line between Birmingham and Bristol via Cheltenham; the continuation of the north-south line between Bristol and Exeter which joins the line from Paddington to the far South West just outside Taunton.

Similar arguments could be made for extending electrification in Wales.

 

[Jerry]

Before Hammond and Grayling axed the electrification along that stretch of the line,

I think this is the problem the UK has. Transport infrastructure like rail often needs generational planning and long term spending commitments but it seems to be more of a short-term approach based on what each individual government wants at the time.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I think this is the problem the UK has. Transport infrastructure like rail often needs generational planning and long term spending commitments but it seems to be more of a short-term approach based on what each individual government wants at the time.

Short-termism is a problem but of course it's the result of parliaments being no more than five years with the government wanting to make its mark before the next election. I'm not suggesting that parliaments should be longer than five years.

 

[Seasider]

Short-termism is a problem but of course it's the result of parliaments being no more than five years with the government wanting to make its mark before the next election. I'm not suggesting that parliaments should be longer than five years.

I don't know about you TLY, but if increase the length of a Parliament, I'll be long gone before it would come into force.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I don't know about you TLY, but if increase the length of a Parliament, I'll be long gone before it would come into force.

I'm not suggesting that the lifetime of parliaments should be increased. Heaven forbid!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Union Connectivity Review Final Report

The Union Connectivity Review’s Final Report has now been published - see link below to its 97 pages (ack and thanks to Carl0927 who earlier today posted the link elsewhere in F4A).

The UK Government asked Sir Peter Hendy to undertake a detailed review into how transport connectivity across the UK can support economic growth and quality of life in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Sir Peter was also asked to make recommendations as to whether and how best to improve transport connectivity between the nations of the UK.

Sir Peter and his colleagues have come up with 19 major recommendations which are based on a strategic transport network for the whole of the UK encompassing air, rail, road and sea. None of the 19 recommendations impact specifically on the Greater Bristol area nor even to the wider South West.

The Bristol region features en passant in relation to the Review’s suggested South Wales road corridor between London, Cardiff and Milford Haven, viz: “TheSouth Wales–Greater Bristol Area. There is a relatively large population on both sides of the border and significant cross-border interaction in terms of people and freight movement. In the morning peak in South East Wales, the number of cross-border journeys is 70% higher than the
number of journeys to other regions of Wales.”

The Review believes that this should be addressed by speedy implementation of the Burns Commission recommendations and by easing restrictions where the M4 meets the M5 and M32.

Linked to this another of the major recommendations suggests that the UK Government should. “Recognise the urgent need to reduce congestion on the M4 and adopt a multi modal approach to the South Wales corridor by upgrading and building new stations on the existing South Wales Main Line, supporting the Welsh Government’s package of public transport improvements and removing bottlenecks through targeted improvements at the junction of the M4/ M5 to relieve congestion.” Again there is no recommendation regarding building or upgrading stations on the Bristol side of although it’s all part of the same South Wales-Greater Bristol link and despite calls in the West of England for new identified stations along this stretch of railway line.

Comment is made about the Cardiff-London rail electrification but nothing about the lack of electrification in Bristol and Bath or across the entire South West.

Bristol Airport doesn’t receive a mention apart from being in a list of strategic UK airports for UK connectivity.

Even the Bristol Port at Avonmouth and Royal Portbury is not regarded as one of the UK’s strategic ports, although Plymouth makes the list of strategic ports thanks to its status as a freeport.

Another Review recommendation is that the criteria for subsidised routes (PSO routes) should be revised and extended, and should include routes that don’t begin or end at a London airport. That might well help Newquay Airport and perhaps Exeter Airport. The government has already acted on one of the Union Connectivity Interim Report’s recommendations regarding domestic route air passenger duty.

The Review recommendations are of course advice to the government with no guarantee that all to even some will be acted upon.

By coincidence the local tv news this evening carried an item on the Bristol-Portishead railway line, considered a vital part of the Greater Bristol public transport infrastructure, which has been awaiting reopening for 20 years or more. At various times it has looked as though there would be a breakthrough only for some other obstacle to be put in the way. The government now says a decision will be made by next April which is yet another delay.

The tv report also mentioned that many South West Conservative MPs are becoming increasingly concerned and annoyed that the government’s levelling up in England seems to be ignoring the South West. Now where have I heard that before?

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1036027/union-connectivity-review-final-report.pdf

 

[TheLocalYokel]

One piece of rail infrastructure that is going ahead.

(Bristol Parkway station was built much later than 1927 but it is outside the Bristol municipal boundary in the unitary authority of South Gloucestershire)

Work begins on Bristol's first new railway station since 1927

It's the first new railway station in the city of Bristol since Parson Street station was opened 95 years ago.

www.bristolpost.co.uk

And one that almost certainly won't.

'Tunnels may well be needed' for Bristol underground

Region's leaders will be presented with costs and timings for mass transit system

www.bristolpost.co.uk

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I've said more than once that Bristol is an under-stated city and BRS an under-stated airport.

Looking at a well-known aviation website the Bristol Airport and Cardiff Airport current threads both commenced in November 2020. During that time the BRS thread has had 37 posts and 19,000 visits with CWL over 400 posts and 118,000 visits.

Airports such as Southend, Southampton and Teesside have received far more posts than that during a similar time span.

I suppose the West Country just goes on quietly about its business without attracting national attention.

 

[vickersviscount]

I think you have hit the nail on the head T.L.Y. I flew out of Bristol Airport the other week, and the truth is that the Airport is run efficiently.When I flew out,there was no fast track but the two queues for the security combs moved progressively.The staff and systems in place all work to expedite transit through security as fast as possible.Obviously there is always going to be hiccups and unforseen events.But I would say the Management at the Airport do a good job.As we all know good news doesn't make headlines.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The airport has invariably got on with its work quietly and efficiently for the most part. It rarely makes the national news except for events such as the runway resurfacing episode - that bad news thing - and even then the airport was unlucky when exceptionally bad weather coincided with a vital piece of the work.

I've been using the airport for nigh on 50 years as it's handily placed for me and have never had any major problems, although in the early days flights were few and far between.

Much of my short-haul down the years has been through BRS and I used to use the AMS connection for long-haul. In the past 15 years though I've used LHR and LGW for ultra long-haul as I find that more convenient.

The Bristol region is well catered for when it comes to airport choice and this helps the strong economy.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Bristol Cityscape

I saw this public comment regarding a local paper article about the history of Bristol's tall buildings.

A number of British cities such as Manchester, Birmingham and to a degree Leeds seem intent on trying to reproduce a mini New York with their skyscraper cityscapes and are becoming clones of each other.

Fortunately, Bristol has resisted this and its tallest buildings are well short of many in those in other cities. Bristol's hilly cityscape makes very tall buildings look incongruous anyway.

I have an empathy with that opinion. I agree with the writer that the many hills around the city don't form a comfortable background to a 21st-Century skyline of very high structures. My hope is that Bristol won't go any higher than it has, which is not great in comparison with some cities, and in the years to come will still be able to show future generations at least a glimpse of what British cities were like before the insatiable need to grow ever skywards took over elsewhere.

 

[tpm]

I don't know if I agree with the idea that Bristol's hilly cityscape makes tall buildings look incongruous. I think it could make tall buildings fit in more naturally actually, like for example the Bath Rd high-rise being built at the moment (unpopular opinion, I know). Without the hills it would just stick out like a sore thumb, but next to it it's quite alright.

San Francisco seems to manage to reconcile tall buildings and a hilly cityscape just fine.

I don't think Bristol needs to go higher, and the idea of castle park being something like a mini Central Park is frankly ludicrous. Most of Manhattan's high rises are an absolute disaster, it's just that there are so many of them that you don't see the trees for the forest and can focus on the couple of nice ones. It doesn't help that most of Bristol's high rises are just not very good looking.

I also don't think that we'll see the central area fill up with high rises any time soon, so I don't see any imminent danger to the "old city" feel of the centre, around the docks etc. Maybe a couple more in the Castle Park area (perhaps we can get rid of the Mariott and that awful car park some day, once the Galleries are sorted), but I'd think if anything the St Philips Marsh area would be a better fit for high rises in future.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I've been to San Francisco, albeit nearly 30 years ago, and I take the point you are making.

I suppose what I'm really trying to say that is that I would not like to see the number of new vary high commercial developments that seem to be proliferating in cities such as Birmingham and Manchester.

In the Birmingham Airport forum there is a thread devoted to Greater Birmingham which has numerous posts and pictures illustrating the many new structures recently built and under construction in that city. I grant that some are impressive, although opinions will always be subjective, and they might well be suitable in Birmingham but I would not like to see developments on that scale in Bristol.

The delight of a discussion such as this is that people will always have contrary views that stimulate the consideration of other opinions.

Greater Birmingham - Thread

Brum x, I apologise if I was negative, been away too long. I would return tomorrow if it were possible! I was only joking Jennyjet, those things you mentioned are hardly unique to Birmingham, every major city in this country have those problems with serious crime.

forums4airports.com

 

[Kevin Farnell]

Something I thought you Bristolians may enjoy. Some guy has built a 1/400 scale model of Bristol Airport.

Credit for video: Morthwest Aviation 108.