Transport Tragedies drive Climate Tragedy

This is why we need franchising! All that money would just line shareholders pockets, whereas in Manchester they've announced they're doing exactly as you say and every penny goes to bus passengers - starting to see the importance of franchising yet?

You change the law to allow individual councillors to become shareholders in NX and Diamond, etc and, especially the transport authority itself to become a shareholder.  Over many years of shareholding in renewable energy schemes including my own (6.24 kWp roof solar array) I've made a mint that I've re-invested in Energy for All community co-operative society schemes.  Some of the profits/dividends go to the local community to further benefit deserving causes.  All this is a sensible way to fight Climate Catastrophe by getting out of burning finite fossil fuels as quickly as possible.

Mayors Andy and Andy were leading lights in keeping bus fares as low as possible before Street was defeated in May.

Local councils, like my own, are in such financial difficulties it seems unfair to place further financial risks and pressures upon them.  Plus, their track record of most abysmal incompetence in wiping off the face of the earth the first tram network in the 1950s and then doing the same with one-third of the railway network in the following decades - and not to speak of the inland waterways tragedy!  Even now, little freight goes by the remnant canal network.

IN ADDITION:

Incompetence in getting only 23 Kms of the tram network rebuilt in 43 years of hard and hardly competent endeavour - and 19 Kms of the 23 Kms were on the first mainline railway destroyed!  It would have been much cheaper and quicker to put the trains and stations back on a railway designed for trains and used for trains, successfully, for 100 years.  All this idiocy is driving human driven Climate Change to weaken life support systems.

However, it was tram work having to be redone after mistakes that was such a costly disaster that first Andy announced a non-appearing independent review into Metro and now Richard P has spoken of a review.  Andy seems to have been totally ignored by the Top Officers at TfWM/WMCA!  I've been unable to get to the bottom of it, Kez.

It all depends on the cost, I don't have the figures, but suspect it's a pretty big number. I guess you could just use the number of trips on the network as a proxy as it's basically £1 per trip plus whatever margin NX end up asking for.  The margin to benefit the local authority shareholders and others.

DfT Transport Grants - £1,787 million for 24/25 capital budget for Metro expansion - and what else?

 

Edit: a quick Google says 232 million per year. Where do you plan to find that budget from?  Scrap further expenditure on projects accelerating Climate Disaster, including military products and drones going to slaughter Palestinians and Lebanese.  Scrap Trident replacement.  Put the redundant workforce into Climate adaptation, mitigation and Global South reparation work (including for the disgusting, despicable crimes of slavery and empire).

A wonderful, sensible alternative for much improved connectivity

Dear Mike

Your marvellous, mighty Metro is creeping ever closer to devouring my own 1990s magnificent, vertical guerrilla garden, plus public open space, nature, housing land and these trees ...​

 6 glorious white trees.jpg

​You can avoid all this destruction by terminating the tram at the Waterfront.

In the early 1990s, my family and I much enjoyed free parking at the Waterfront but, paying 40p each for the monorail ride into Central Station at Merry Hill SC.  And the station is still there in the heart of the shopping centre - in the roof - and you can view it from the top of the canal embankment, too!  In the past, public viewing of the station has opened at anniversaries of the monorail.

MORE GOOD NEWS!

The Swiss-engineered monorail by Von Roll may still be in use in Queensland, Australia.  You could buy it back and this time, unlike your predecessors, actually connect it to the Dudley Tram at the Waterfront.  Your predecessors, together with Don and Roy Richardson in 1990, left it 400 metres short of the freight-only mainline coming up from Port Talbot to Round Oak Steel!​

 1990s monorail map.jpg

​Or, simply use an electric bus to connect the Waterfront tram stop to Merry Hill and keep the tram on the railway to connect with the national railway network at Stourbridge Junction.  After all, the UK tram promotion group, in your Transport HQ, called the tram "a bus on rails" on the 'Today' programme in 2016, after the Croydon tram crash: "Of 69 passengers, there were seven fatalities and 62 injured, 19 of whom sustained serious injuries."  Wikipedia

Mike, let me show you what I mean with a site visit.

From flash capital to foundational priority

Dear Richard

Do you go along with this, below?  Labour's Lord Adonis initiated HS2 and got Gordon Brown on side in 2009.  Labour councils initiated and have run with Climate disastrous Metro and Sprint massive expenditure using taxpayers money that should have gone to slow Climate disaster and towards Climate and Social Justice.  Please continue ...

Capital transport projects up to now, since 1981, have been the biggest slice of the cake at Brum CC and at WMCA.

Revenue transport funding to subsidise public transport is essential and is the biggest slice of that cake, too.

Capital, flash, grandiose projects help explain the fast rise in GHG emissions to over heat the planet, to bring the stress we are seeing on life support systems and climate breakdown.

The Top Decision Makers at Brum CC and at the WMCA are responsible for using taxes from both poor and rich to give highly expensive Metro and Sprint provision when the funds must go to help the lowest incomes DIRECTLY with insulating, upgrading and making THEIR homes energy efficient.  My wife and I have done it with our money.

Can this new emphasis be discussed soon, please?  An emphasis on directly helping those in most desperate need of having warm and cheap homes to heat (as my family home is and theirs could be, too).  Direct action from a change in priorities to ditch extravagant, flash, unnecessary capital expenditure that accelerates climate catastrophe from all the GHG spewed out in the manufacture of steel and concrete.  That money to be used.

Do Direct Action by diverting capital funds that are the wrong, mistaken priority.

Hi John - thanks for writing and the excellent direct action Acorn is doing to help Palestinians and Lebanese.

Earlier this year, was it you who read out a very lengthy and most inappropriate motion/resolution that I had written but only as background/more detail/explanation?!  It was read so quickly that even I had to concentrate hard on following it!  Can I ask for another, more adequate go, to start a discussion and get feedback, please?

ATTEMPT NO 2 - the ESSENCE:

Capital transport projects up to now, since 1981, have been the biggest slice of the cake at Brum CC and at WMCA.

Revenue transport funding to subsidise public transport is essential and is the biggest slice of that cake, too.

Capital, flash, grandiose projects help explain the fast rise in GHG emissions to over heat the planet, to bring the stress we are seeing on life support systems and climate breakdown.

The Top Decision Makers at Brum CC and at the WMCA are responsible for using taxes from both poor and rich to give highly expensive Metro and Sprint provision when the funds must go to help the lowest incomes DIRECTLY with insulating, upgrading and making THEIR homes energy efficient.  My wife and I have done it with our money.

Can this new emphasis be discussed soon, please?  An emphasis on directly helping those in most desperate need of having warm and cheap homes to heat (as my family home is and theirs could be, too).  Direct action from a change in priorities to ditch extravagant, flash, unnecessary capital expenditure that accelerates climate catastrophe from all the GHG spewed out in the manufacture of steel and concrete.  That money to be used.

A small delegation to then lobby BCC/WMCA for this new Climate Top priority, as is found here:

 Action Points - 2024 version.pdf

and, my tenth point here:

 Nine Action Points from W Mids Climate Coalition to lobby the West Mids CA in support of a zero-c...

 

dangerous GHG = dangerous greenhouse gases

GHG accumulating faster than at any time in history, says WMO

 It will impact all life on earth said WMO

Dep Sec Gen of WMO said,

"Every fraction of a degree rise in temperature matters.

It matters in terms of the speed of glacier and ice retreat.

The acceleration of sea level rise, ocean heat and acidification.

It matters in terms of the number of people exposed to extreme heat each year.  The extinction of species, the impact on ecosystems and our economies."

Keep your car engine running when stationary - and you won't need to switch it on. OBVIOUS. Save your own energy!

"@⁨Timwell⁩ I wish I had your confidence to ask people to switch their engines off. Just been getting poisoned by an idiot with their engine running in Asda multi-storey car park  I genuinely feel it on my chest and wish I went over to them."

REASONS FOR WHY THE ENGINE MUST NOT BE TURNED OFF:

1  Flat battery, mate.  It won't restart if I switch off.

2  I'm conducting an engine diagnostic test that requires the engine to be left running.

3  I'm updating my satnav and the engine has to be left on.

4  I have children in the back and they must be kept warm.

5 I have dogs in the back and they need the air conditioning that must have the battery being recharged with the engine switched on.

6  It's a windy day.  It doesn't matter.

7  I'm so wealthy, I really don't need to save money/fuel by switching off.

8  I have clean air in the car and my having to open the window for you is beginning to change that.

9  I've only stopped for a drag/fiddle with my phone/have a bite to eat.

10  I'm about to leave and you, old man, are delaying me.

CLEAN AIR SCRIPT:

What I say is, 'Excuse me, Could you please be a very nice man/woman and give me cleaner air to breathe?' After a little thought, the penny drops with some without my further prompting. A minority do comply! The secret is to smile/apologise/make 'em think you're joking or, just want to save them money and leave some petrol for future use!

Eat an apple to counteract what you've breathed in.

ReplyForward Add reaction

TWO EMERGENCY RESOLUTIONS for our AGM on Wednesday

Can these, please be put to our AGM on Wednesday?

Emergency resolution One:

"This AGM of Acorn Birmingham expresses its distress at Birmingham City Council and its sister body, the West Midlands Combined Authority in never condemning Birmingham and West Midlands companies helping to arm our major ally, Israel when she is engaged in a disproportionate, illegal, criminal and immoral war of aggression in slaughtering wholly innocent unarmed children, women and men, first in Gaza, then in the West Bank and now in Lebanon, too.

"We insist that the City Council and the WMCA must pass their own resolutions to condemn Israel and our West Midlands armament manufacturers, including drone exporters."

NOTE: My emphasis here on condemning Israel because:

1. Israel is part of our All Dominating/Controlling Western power bloc of nations, led by the USA.
2. Our side has primary responsibility for Israel's criminal attacks and for our Western arms manufacturers giving them the where-with-all to conduct a war condemned by the international community outside our American led All Powerful Hegemony.
3. It was the British Mandate caving in to Jewish terrorism at the end of its unfortunate, thirty-year-rule and failing to solve the deepening rift between Jews and Muslims/Arabs that left the door wide open to the tragedy that befell that part of the Middle East in 1948.

Emergency resolution Two:

"We remain alarmed at the most enormous expense being wasted by wealthy decision makers in choosing to continue with vast and high Climate/resource impacting transport projects that will benefit themselves and, rather childishly, help Birmingham to rival Manchester rather than being a shining light on a hill for leading the UK in doing the most for slowing Climate Catastrophe.

"We insist that BCC and the WMCA must unite in actively siding with those at the bottom of the heap, to boost their standard of living and to guarantee their future prospects by insulating and upgrading their homes.  This, to ensure their lower energy bills, to enable them to heat their homes and to eat more healthily."

UN Resolution 181

United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181, also known as the Partition Resolution, was adopted on November 29, 1947. The resolution called for the partition of Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab, with Jerusalem under a special international regime. 

The resolution was considered a legal basis for the establishment of Israel by the Jewish community in Palestine, but was rejected by the Arab community. The resolution was followed almost immediately by violence, including the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. 

The resolution remains relevant today for several reasons, including:

• It confirmed the international community's recognition of the Jewish people's right to a state in their historical homeland.
• The formula of two states for two peoples remains Israel's position in peace negotiations.
• The Arab population's refusal to accept the resolution demonstrated their unwillingness to establish their own state if it meant allowing a Jewish state to exist. 

The UN Charter states that the General Assembly's resolutions are recommendations, not legally binding.

FROM:  https://www.google.com/search?q=resolution+181+of+the+UN+general+assembly+of+29+November%2C+1947.&oq=resolution+181+of+the+UN+general+assembly+of+29+November%2C+1947.&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCDIwODZqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

ACORN must address transport accelerating Climate Catastrophe

Hi Kez

THANK YOU so much.  You are excellent at engaging and debating the WMCA's major expenditure, not to benefit the poor or to slow Climate Catastrophe but to worsen the plight of both in favour of the most greedy, luxurious and extravagant transport provision imaginable, viz: HS2, Metro and Sprint.

Since the 1990s, you have been the only 'ordinary' member of the public who has had the decency to argue your case coherently, intelligently and extremely well.  I have had replies from Centro, the Integrated Transport Authority (ITA) and, since 2017, from TfWM/WMCA and conversation with countless officers and councillors at 16 Summer Lane and other council offices.

Since the 1990s I've been writing, first letters and then emails to Centro about the scandal of the Stourbridge to Walsall railway line being ready and waiting for its commuter trains to return.  And, arguing against Metro trams spoiling it.

In the 2000s I came across this excellent colour brochure from the Railway Development Society, aka Railfuture since that decade.

I then learnt that this mainline railway runs from Stourbridge Jct all the way to Lichfield and on to Burton on Trent/Derby is almost totally unused!  Yet, it runs alongside or near to major Black Country roads and Midland motorways - all choked with traffic congestion.

Even worse, millions have been spent on safeguarding the 120 Kms between Worcester stations and Derby station, with every crossing built as new roads and motorways were added across the railway.  But still not used on the 56 Kms between Stourbridge Jct and Burton on Trent.  Apart from steel freight coming up from Port Talbot but, only as far as Round Oak, next to the Waterfront complex, next to Merry Hill SC.

PHOTO of one new crossing on the wasted principal mainline:

QUOTES FOR THEIR INTENTION TO RETURN FREIGHT/PASSENGER TRAINS:

"Light rail investment provides the basis for restoring heavy rail services at the appropriate time."  Tom Magrath, Passenger Services Director, Centro in a letter to me dated 18 September 2000.

"Passive provision" for both heavy rail and Light Rail and Very Light Rail will have it all sorted.  Don't worry, Tim!

"We don't need freight trains on the railway until the 2040s, at the earliest."

Failed, tragic, one trick pony Israel

The Jews never got an agreement with any of its neighbours to turn Palestine into its own State of Israel.  From the outset, first with the three terrorist gangs, the Jews fought the British for control of Palestine and then fought with all its Arab neighbours to gain the land of Palestine for itself.  It has won every war, just as it did 3,300 years ago when Israel's aggression took over the land of Canaan for itself.

Such success was put down to Yahweh/God who commanded such warfare and "total destruction" for the Amalekites that the Israel War Cabinet is insisting must mean the annihilation of at least Hamas before its war aims are achieved.  It is in the Hebrew Scriptures so total extermination of Hamas is a Divine Command that to ignore would mean even greater trouble for them.

Their Scriptures command tit-for-tat retaliation.  However, for Netanyahu who is devoid of any sense of magnanimity or mercy in victory, it means taking one thousand lives of their enemy neighbour for every Jew killed.  Sermon on the Mount ethics and the example of the Good Samaritan never figure in dear Bibi's revengeful mind.  In addition, their powerful and generous paymaster and sponsor, America, while talking of ceasefire, Israel is adamant that prosecuting the war must be their top priority and certainly NOT ceasefire negotiations to get hostage releases for the second time.  Totally ineffective weakness, astonishingly obvious double standards are the hallmark for the All Conquering Greedy Dominating Leader of the Righteous Western World!

For our side, wiping Hamas off the face of the earth for good this time, is more important than the 101 hostages who are dead or alive in Gaza.  Hostages are a sideshow for the greater good of Israel's long-term security.  Yet, there is no sign of light dawning that after 3,300 years (Lion Handbook to the Bible) of intermittent violence, warfare and exterminations and still no peace, that perhaps they might try the Good Samaritan strategy.

80 years of violence for the Promised Land for God's Chosen People

It is very nearly 80 years since Jewish Zionist terrorism started against the British Mandate for Palestine.  It led to the ignominy of the British Army retreating home in 1948.  Jewish aggression was rewarded, contrary to all standards of justice around the world.  Ever since, aggression, violence and sheer slaughter have continued to maintain Israel in the unHoly Land as, Alone God's Chosen People.

I do wonder what on earth (in heaven) the good Lord thinks of it all!

Official fraudulence/scam

Only a small minority of passengers can ever use Metro trams and HS2.  It is fraudulent to claim that these billions are transforming public transport and are responsible for motorists deserting their cars for trams and trains.

It is fraudulent to claim that all railway passengers will notice the vast improvement once the 100 miles of HS2 and the 150 miles of Metro trams are up and running.

It is a fraudulent misuse of £45 billion (2019 figure) of taxpayers' money for HS2 and £15 billion (Jan 2020 figure) for W Midlands trams.

What we are more likely to notice are the effects of Climate on life support systems.

FROM: https://premetro.co.uk/stourbridge-proposal-could-save-taxpayers-millions/

Pre Metro has proposed the Stourbridge Dasher be considered to connect Dudley sooner rather than later, which could save taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds while delivering enhanced connectivity and economic revitalisation.

The Stourbridge Dasher is being proposed as a cost-effective replacement for Phase 2b of the Wednesbury and Brierley Hill Metro extension, a project fraught with budget overruns and delays. Originally allocated £449 million, the Metro extension’s costs have skyrocketed to an estimated £650 million.

Phase 2b, linking Dudley with Waterfront, is expected to cost £228 million, with additional funds required to reach the Merry Hill Embankment and Brierley Hill High Street. These escalating costs have raised concerns about the project’s affordability compared to other local initiatives.

Pre Metro’s service would utilise the existing Round Oak dual-track freight line, converting one line into a bidirectional rail service between Stourbridge Junction and Canal Street. Connecting Stourbridge to Brierley Hill could be achieved with just £30 million.

The potential benefits of the Stourbridge Dasher extend beyond cost savings. Local surveys reveal strong community support, with 87% of residents expressing interest in using the new service and 40% of businesses along the route expecting increased customer footfall. Employment opportunities are also likely to rise, with projections showing a 63% increase at Merry Hill alone.

Not only that but extending this scheme to include Dudley would total only £50 million—a staggering 78% saving when compared to the currently proposed tramway. In addition to substantial cost savings, the Stourbridge Dasher offers a faster implementation timeline, reduced disruption to local communities, and improved access between Dudley and Stourbridge.

By repurposing existing infrastructure, the project aligns with principles of efficiency and sustainability, addressing the region’s transport needs while ensuring better value for taxpayer money.

Concerns over excessive spending on recent tram extensions within the West Midlands— reportedly costing over £100 million per kilometre, far above global norms—have cast doubt on new transport initiatives in the region. With public funds finite, accountability is paramount, and VLR seems to offer a less disruptive and more cost-effective solution.

Despite these clear advantages, Transport for West Midlands has deferred consideration of the Dasher proposal until 2027, citing the need for further financing and study. This delay risks missing a critical opportunity to connect southern Dudley and Stourbridge, leaving local businesses and passengers underserved.

Pre Metro has urged the West Midlands Combined Authority to collaborate on adapting the Metro proposal sooner rather than later to save public money and improve regional connectivity. This approach would reduce costs and expedite project completion.

Steve Jasper, Director of Pre Metro, and local resident, ratepayer, and former Public Transport Manager, emphasised:

“It’s time for the Combined Authority to prioritise financial accountability and embrace transformative alternatives. By safeguarding public funds, we can deliver a brighter, more connected future for everyone.”

As an SME, Pre Metro has already pledged £25,000 to advance the Strategic Outline Business Case. They are now requesting that the Authority review current proposals and assist in evaluating an alternative that offers quicker results and better value for money.

Stourbridge’s Bigger Picture Strategy can be accessed here.

The tragedy of HS2 - so grossly exaggerating its benefits that, for me, it amounts to dishonesty and self deception

• £66 billion for a completely new railway mode, while about 100 Kms of the present W Mids rail mode is either unused or is freight only.
• The UK's first, super expensive, high-speed railway line.  Yet basic public transport is nowhere near as good as even the average on the mainland of Europe.
• The only UK railway line safeguarded for use "by freight trains by the 2040s, at the earliest" is used for a short tramway, a Very Light Rail test track and a much longer cycle-walkway extension.
• This is the 120 Kms (but 56 Kms unused in the middle) Black Country Railway between Worcester, the Black Country and Derby.
• The much-vaunted increased capacity that will be available once HS2 is open has now been found out to mean ONLY increasing the length of our railway lines!
• It only increases the choice, NOT capacity, for travellers going directly between London, Brum and its airport.
• They can choose between flying and HS2.  However, passengers for other intercity stations have only the existing service that might be less frequent when HS2 is open.
• Non-HS2 passengers get the same old story of tired rolling stock and stations on the WCML that must remain after HS2 is shooting past them.
• The £66 billion might have been used to modernise and upgrade the existing railway network.
• The £66 billion goes to only benefit a small minority of railway passengers who could, anyway, continue to use plane travel between the capital and Brum.
• Why are they singled out for special, super-duper treatment while the rest of us have second-rate public transport and are paying for their totally unnecessary, high-flying, lifestyle?
• For me, this is a dishonest use of taxes, especially when every pound spent is yet another pound in weight of GHG emissions to worsen the climate emergency and worsen finite, vital resources.
• Perhaps, the majority of the British public is misled by this flash, swanky lie that ALL rail users will benefit from HS2 increasing the mirage/illusion/scam of 'capacity'.
• It is a wasteful and unnecessary duplication of an adequate, existing London to Brum railway line

We in the rich West, are so entitled and well off in every way, already.  Yet we demand and expect, ever more prosperity and the very best of everything.  Social injustice, in my book!  Climate blindness, too!  But, what rich, right-wing governments provide for their rich clientele.

So more of the war-ravaged, hungry, miserable hordes pile into the overcrowded small boats to get to our capitalist dystopia for a better life.  The hordes fleeing the poverty and environmental degradation and war-ravaged countries from our wars, our arms exports and our greedy economic growth and growth of climate killing greenhouse gases.

OT ethics of annihilation of the enemy is quoted because ...

... the state of Israel is Yawheh's Chosen Nation ("you shall be my people" Lev 26 v 12) divinely ordained to settle the entire Promised Land.  It is Israel's manifest destiny to have and hold the Land.

From Wikipedia: "Manifest destiny" means it is obvious (manifest) and certain (destiny).

On 'PM' today, Evan Davies reported:-

"Israel's Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, tweeted a quote from Leviticus this afternoon, 'You will pursue your enemies and they will fall before you by the sword'.  He said our enemies cannot hide and we will pursue and eliminate them."

Leviticus 26 v7,8

No need for our railway lines to have railway trains!

14 October 2024

FROM NETWORK RAIL:

Thank you for contacting us about the use of former railway lines and your concerns about them being used for reasons other than running trains.

We are, across the rail network, committed to running a railway which meets the needs and demands of the communities we serve. This is an approach taken with our train operating partners to provide the best service in terms of frequency, reliability and journey options.

Where lines have previously taken out of use, they are often kept within the ownership of the railway authority to potentially be brought back into use should there be a demand and business case to support it. If neither of these requirements are not present, and considering all other factors and influences, we may look at alternative uses.

If there is an option to support the development and progress of other modes of transport, to encourage people to travel in a greener and more sustainable way, this is something we would consider for future use.

This is what has happened with sections of disused railway lines in the West Midlands, where we have worked with the West Midlands Combined Authority to make the routes available as part of the region’s tram network.

As part of the regulated land disposal process, Network Rail is required to consider any future potential rail use and we foresaw there may be a future need for freight or other traffic along the Wednesbury to Brierley Hill extension.

As part of the sale to West Midlands Combined Authority, there is a condition that should there be a requirement for freight or other traffic, it could be restored alongside Metro services with at least 10 years’ notice.

The Lichfield to Brownhills section of route has been out of use for a number of years and will be converted to an active travel route as proposed by Lichfield District Council. We retain the ability to terminate the lease should it be identified that there is a case for reinstatement of heavy rail but currently this section and the route via Dudley do not feature in the priorities for us or those of our partners for reinstatement of heavy rail but we regularly review in light of changing policy, planning and funding situations.

Any proposal for reinstatement of railway along this corridor will need to be developed in conjunction with local and regional partners and national government to ensure that it is the right thing to be doing both for the route itself and the wider transport network. At this moment in time there is no project looking at the reinstatement of this route and has no plans to be making applications for development funding in the near future.

I hope this explains why certain decisions are made and demonstrates that we are committed to train travel, sustainable travel and supporting partners to improve public transport both now and in future.

Thank you for contacting Network Rail.

Kind Regards

Sam Clinton

Community Relations

My eco-credentials

Since the mid 90s I gave up the car for 90% of work journeys, for climate reasons, even though I was classed as an essential car user for my social work. Living close enough to work to reduce my eco footprint has been uppermost in my mind since coming to this house in January 1976. And I've  maintained that discipline, to the best of my ability, ever since to reduce my hypocrisy quotient. Nearside lane driving to Scotland, now cut back to twice a year and then living in the car, is my reward for living simply so that others may simply live. Now, occasional hotel and more bus use in old age!

Your new house must be well above any river, for reasons you well know!

Sept/Oct 2024 Scottish expedition

Left on Wed 25 Sept on the afternoon I had loaded up in the morning.  Unheard of for me!

Horrendous congestion on M6 in Cheshire, however, meant I had my first night ever in a Travelodge.  This one at Burton Services, Carnforth that was ony £57 and most helpful three receptionists.  One advised against the £5.50 breakfast box and recommended the fast food outlets.  Went to M&S for excellent breakfast.

The OS have two different places for the car park that is not a car park for Cairnsmore of Fleet hill (a Donald and a Graham).  Summited in the afternoon in wind and cloud and rain.  Cold coming down meant I put on every layer I had with me but the clear footpath was a great help.

Impossible to do the other two summits in those conditions so had to repeat the walk the next day, Friday 27 Sept on a fine, sunny day.  I took the bike up the tarmac road and the forest road.  Left it unlocked but lots of walkers on such a fine day - but, it was still there on return!

I met a 75-year-old who got to the summit but needed a quad bike to get him down after he was having difficulties.  I stood on the very fine motte next to the stoney road as the quad bike with him as rear pillion went steaming past.  I met him again at the car park that is not a car park and had a chat recommending walking poles when it was his balance that he said was the problem.  Then on to Joan and Mike's to Sunday 6 October.

Back home on Friday 11 October, via a night at Westmorland Hotel, then walk to Orton village straight after breakfast before the mainly nearside lane drive home to achieve 86.7 mpg between Carlisle and home.

16 summits visited with 13 left - 9 in the Ochills and 4 in the Galloway Hill.  The 16 reached were 7 in Galloway Hills and 9 in the Lowther Hills.

No more accelerating GHG emissions

No more accelerating GHG emissions.  And no more destruction/waste of railway lines or Multi-modal public transport - especially when the money should be going to regional Fare-Free Public Transport for ALL and not just to my old crocks age group!

Always blame everyone else but yourself!

Certainly, China is building more renewables than any other country I heard on the Jeremy Vine Show from a former BBC environment correspondent - Roger Harrabin, I believe it was.  China is the workshop of the world in making products for us all to lower our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions but raising theirs.  It means uninformed people point an accusing finger at them, never realising three are pointing back at them.  What hypocrisy!  Always blame everyone else but yourself!

Has Colt seavers got rid of gas, entirely, in his/her home and gone over to an annual, 70-80% self-generating electricity, as we have done?  Only in cold spells do we import electricity and, then, only at night when it would otherwise be wasted and, hence is very cheap.

Who is Mr Robinson, Mr Robinson is not a nice man?!

Why such weird and wonderful names?

Why not pluck up courage and use your own name that we all know you by?

Have the honesty of standing by your convictions, please instead of being so ashamed of what you write.

Email to send to TfWM - the essence!

Suggested email to customerservices@tfwm.org.uk  --

KEEP THE TRAM ON THE RAILWAY

You are writing a business case for bringing the Dudley Tram as far as Merry Hill SC to destroy nature, landscaping, public open space and housing land with the 400 metre tramway viaduct and new tram bridges.

Will you write a further business case for terminating the tram at Stourbridge Jct to allow it to connect with the national railway network?

Have an electric bus to then connect the tram on the railway with Brierley Hill High Street and Merry Hill.

Do you need to compare both options to be able to make the right decision?

2 fossil fuel follies and 1 sensible essential

The transport engineers and planners have had decades destroying all the properly closed Beeching railway lines because they made such big losses as we all went out and bought cars.  Now, we are no longer building roads, homes and offices on commuter railway lines.  Instead, converting a principal, mainline railway, alongside or near to congested M5/M6, into a tramway and cycle-walkway!  This is the 120 Kms, unfinished in the middle, Black Country railway that bypasses Brum to the west between Worcester and Derby.

No wonder we have to have High Scam 2 to give plane passengers between London and Brum a change of scenery from clouds and sky to fields and the remaining woods from the super fast train!

End the expansion of multi-modal public transport in the West Midlands and West Yorkshire.  Heavy rail, Light rail and Very Light Rail mean more changes and delays between the three different railway modes.  Railway lines and concrete are very expensive in both price and in weight of GHG emissions.

Give the LR, VLR funds for regional Fare-Free Public Transport (and free buses throughout England) FOR ALL that I, as an old geezer, have had for 16 years.

Water meters and usage

Since 1990 all new build home built must have a water meter fitted by law. From 2025, South Staffs Water is starting a programme to fit a water meter at every property that does not currently have one, where it is possible to do so, over the next decade. Over 130,000 are planned to be fitted between 2025-2030, with the remainder by 2035. Alongside another large reduction of leakage levels, fitting these meters will play an important part of ensuring we have enough water to go around to meet human demand and ensure the environment is protected. You can find out more here: https://www.south-staffs-water.co.uk/about-us/our-strategies-and-plans/our-water-resources-management-plan 

Water supplied to customers across the South Staffs region is taken from the River Severn, over 20 underground aquifers and a major reservoir which provides water to customers, you can find out more about it here: https://www.south-staffs-water.co.uk/environment/managing-water-resources/where-our-water-comes-from/. At this time we are not planning to increase the size of our Blithfield Reservoir, but this is an option that we can bring into our plans if the situation changes, e.g. we receive less rainfall over time, or demand for water rises quicker than forecast.

 

As you are a metered customer, you can work out your usage from your recent water bills. On your bill, following an actual meter reading being taken, it will show you the amount of water used in meters cubed (m3). You can then convert this to litres - 1 cubic meters/day = 1,000 liters/day – to work out your daily usage. The company is currently looking at the best ways to provide this information through an online portal, or similar,  for customers to make it easy for them to track their water usage. 

 

Regards,

South Staffs Water – Your water your say team

CLUELESS COUNCIL

Cllr Patrick Harley has called the ice rink scheme so obvious and essential that it is "a no-brainer".   However, all the best brains around the world in the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have been repeating since 1988, with increasing urgency, that we need to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and move to a more climate justice and social justice community of nations.

Since 2020, when Dudley Council declared a climate emergency, it has shown its complete ignorance over climate breakdown and, this latest hypocritical 2,000 seater ice rink proposal, is yet another indication that they are clueless over the many obvious and essential measures to slow climate disaster.

TRY NON-VIOLENCE, PERHAPS?

I think violence has solved nothing since 1945 but only brought misery, murder and mayhem in the Middle East, Far East and Northern Ireland. In the despicable behaviour of the unHoly land, it has never ended. Our side, the Western Dominating Powers, are wholly to blame for the slaughter.

Mum knows the answer - and the other Tim W!

You have a line of impenetrable Galloway Forest plantation before you coming down off a broad ridge BUT, you have to find the narrow ride you came up after depositing the bike on the forest road.  I FAILED!

How did I escape?  Not by climbing up a tree or summoning mountain rescue.

What should I have done?  But even the great Ronald Turnbull, author of walking books galore says "its tricky"!

Council members need to sharpen up

Thanks for this. All very helpful.

Many councillors change from year to year because of elections and leaders moving them around the different committees. It means that no sooner to do they get to grips with their brief than they get moved!

Many appear uninterested, poorly informed and are far too subservient to the senior officers. They are simply rubber stamps with most unable to check, challenge and question. But this is their sole purpose, I think.

Whistleblowers and watchdogs like me are far more valuable!

Stuff their teeth with gold

Bus franchising is expensive and risky with the local councils having to carry the can if things go wrong in this foolish, commercial enterprise. Both Brum and Dudley have tried risky and foolish projects, as I have described elsewhere. This one means that we taxpayers have to foot the bill initially in buying up bus depots, buses and changing staff contracts and, have to fork out when bus services don't bring in the expected revenue.

Keep to the excellent Enhanced Bus Partnership (EBP) model and use the money saved from franchising to bring in FFPT.

Bus franchising is another re-organisation that is unnecessary when you already have EBP with the bus companies being paid to run socially necessary but unprofitable services. Money talks with the bus operators. Stuff their teeth with gold to bring in FFPT!

Why are you continuing with your 40 years of hard endeavour ... ?

Why are you continuing with your 40 years of hard endeavour to convert the West Midlands mainline railways into tramways?

Snow Hill station to St Georges Sq in Wolverhampton tramway was put on the first mainline railway between Birmingham and Wolverhampton, instead of returning the commuter and regional trains.  Opened in 1999.

You are continuing with the highly extravagant idiocy of putting Metro trams on an even more important principal mainline railway between London, the Black Country and Edinburgh.  This is the Wednesbury, Brierley Hill Extension (WBHE) of Metro One that was put on the first mainline railway, as I have mentioned, above.

In South Staffordshire, you are turning this same London to Edinburgh via the Black Country mainline into a cycle-walkway when you have built all the motorway, road and canal crossings for fast passenger and freight trains to go back.  WHY THE  WASTE, IDIOCY AND INCOMPETENCE of building an intercity railway line and then using it for trams, cycles, dog walkers and a 2 Kms section for a Very Light Rail test track from the former Dudley mainline station that is now the BCIMO HQ?!   BCIMO = Black Country Innovative Manufacturing Organisation.

"of national strategic significance" paragraph, dated 8 March 2018 from DfT

I have sought clarification on the situation from Network Rail, who inform me that this is a section of railway of national strategic significance. Investment in the corridor would allow for continued freight growth given that the other SW-NE route (via Bromsgrove) is already at full daytime capacity. From a passenger perspective, safeguarding a heavy rail corridor across the Round Oak-Bescot route is of value as this is the only corridor which could accept freight traffic displaced by further passenger flows into central Birmingham. I understand from Network Rail that recent discussion on the project has therefore focused around how best to balance the interests of freight and passenger rail traffic.

Chagos Islanders

Please will you restrain the shouts of “Betrayal” from the current Tory leadership candidates and one past PM? They are all based on false assumptions:

1. The Joint base on Diego Garcia is secured by a 99-year lease under UK control, despite Mauritian sovereignty. 

2. The USA and India are fully in support of this deal. President Biden has specifically welcomed it. There is no chance that China will sneak in by the back door.

3. The return of the deported population should warm the hearts of those who want minorities to go back home. I have been fighting their legal cases for the past 25 years.

4. The cost of looking after the current Sri Lankan asylum seekers has cost tens of millions of pounds and is now the responsibility of other countries

5. It was a Tory Prime minister, Liz Truss, who first agreed with Mauritius to discuss returning Chagos to Mauritius.

6. It was James Cleverly who announced the pursuit of these discussions but was  stalled by David Cameron who had forbidden the return of the Islanders in 2016

7. If the UK had supported the return of the population in 2000, when the High Court declared the deportation of the population to be illegal, the Islands would have had a UK-supporting population living there, just as in the Falklands. In all probability, Mauritius would never have been able to mount a successful claim at the International Court.

8. It is arguable that PM Cameron and the FCDO are responsible for forfeiting sovereignty by reckless decisions to exclude the Chagossians from their homeland.

9. Having lost the case in the ICJ, while Boris Johnson was Foreign Secretary, the UK was directed by the United Nations to quit Chagos within 6 months.

10. If there is any substance in shouts of betrayal, it lies in the failure of both Labour and Tory governments to respect the rights of Chagossians to go home under the flag they would have preferred.