At its open forum on the 25th April in Calne, CAT posed questions to Unitary Authority Candidates on Calne’s transport issues. Anne Henshaw Chair of CAT commented:

Our Transport Event on 25th April was a great success.  Prospective candidates present answered the questions very comprehensively, and a good debate was had on each topic between them and members of the public.  The views of the councillors seemed to chime very closely with those of CAT and we look forward to working with them, if elected, through the Area Board. I very much hope that CAT members, and anyone else within the Community Area, will use the questions as a basis for discussions on Transport when talking to prospective candidates once they are out canvassing.

	Read the CAT Briefing document from the forum
	Read the Questions posed to prospective Councillors at the forum

WHICH WAY FOR TRANSPORT?

Transport is the issue which constantly appears in national, regional and local debate.

It is the elephant in the room for town regeneration plans, strategic planners and environmentalists.

Sometimes it seems we have forgotten the alternatives; walking, cycling and using public transport.

Research by Cycling England shows that 91% of children never cycle to school. Surely children can be encouraged to become safer, more confident, cyclists. Training through Ride to School campaigns could prove a positive step towards a healthy environmentally friendly lifestyle. Cycleways could be made attractive alternatives to both roads and cars, safe cycle space alongside major roads need to be protected and both these elements could provide an arena for safe environmentally friendly transport.

We at Calne Area Transport stress that now is the time that local communities took ownership of the wonderful assets that are our public rights of way and used them to benefit public health and the environment. They can form the links between principal road networks enabling easy access from villages to the towns, and between towns. Properly integrated with public transport they would open up travel opportunities for all.

The economic world could change in the aftermath of the current recession. The relationship between where people work and where they live may alter and the way people travel to work, school or leisure may be affected. Now is the time to prepare for that change by planning a visionary approach to dealing with access and mobility in Calne and its rural communities

Calne Area Transport is planning a Transport Forum on 25th April to discuss issues surrounding the future of travel. Details will be released shortly we welcome your thoughts on this very important issue.

Anne Henshaw

Chairman CAT.

The Gazette and Herald reports on CAT’s campaign for better bus routes:

“Campaign group Calne Area Transport has launched a campaign for better bus routes.

The group, which successfully campaigned to get National Express to stop in the town, wants better links between Devizes, Melksham and Trowbridge.

The group also wants better disabled access, especially on the number 33 Chippenham-Devizes bus run by travel operator APL.

The company has just announced it will be putting one low bus on the 33 route in the next two weeks but the group says that all the buses should be low level.”

Click here to read the full article.

Chapter 5 on Transport has been completely rewritten and there is now much more support for alternative means of travel to the car, consideration of the effects of climate change and reduced enthusiasm for road building.  To read the report go to www.southwest-ra.gov.uk

The problem of traffic circulation in the centre of Calne, well known to all those who live there or are passing through, usually centres around the Curzon Street area. However, this may well get worse, and affect a wider area, if more housing development is permitted before a strategic transport survey is carried out. Pegasus Planning held two consultation afternoons in early July with regard to their proposal to build 300 houses at Abberd Lane. There are also rumours about a possible development in the town centre (apart from the Woolworth/Westlea one) All this on top of the forthcoming, already granted, Station Road site.

Sustrans has recently received a substantial grant. This may be the moment to start talking serious cycling and try to attract funds for cycle way improvements in the town and to the villages.

Finding funding for any major improvements or changes to transport issues is a real challenge at the moment. It is clear that the Commission for Rural Communities and Natural England (the successors to the Countryside Agency) can offer no prospects for schemes to help rural areas and no one knows if the Regional Development Agency will support sustainable local transport schemes in the future.

A new approach to transport in Calne and the Community Area needs to be brought to the top of any local agenda when discussing longterm plans for the town.

Castle Combe Race Track – Tuesday 17th June: 6 – 9.30pm

Enjoy a great family evening of activity. The grand aim for the cumulative efforts of all involved on the night is to cycle 10,000 miles!

• Get your bike security stamped
• Find out about cycleways and local routes
• Cycle displays from RJ Ride entertainment show!
• Free goodie bags from Kinetika

Click here for more information about the event or register online at
www.everydaycycling.com/edc/events/20080617_castle_combe_midsummer_bike_night.aspx

This event, put on by Community First,was held to find out what opportunities there are for community transport in terms of social enterprise and was attended by members of local community transport groups that have set up, or who are in the process of setting up, enterprising services which help support their particular social aspiration

Sylvia Brown, Chief Executive of Action for Communities in Rural England (ACRE) gave a breakdown of how funding streams were made available, and why community groups should be encouraged to take advantage of available funding. She did, however, accept that understanding the complexity of the procedures and their deadlines was not easy for volunteer groups new to the game. She emphasised that she was convinced that the future lay in following this community action route.

CAT was fortunate enough to receive substantial funding from ACRE in August 2007 in order to carry out the Go-Between project research work. This work is ongoing and due to be completed in late February 2008. There will be a public presentation of the findings in April 2008…more detail on this in the Spring and through our next newsletter.

Fiona Hornby of the Wigglybus Social Enterprise Group gave a presentation on the obstacles which a new entry group can encounter. Small volunteer transport groups from local communities need to learn very quickly and be able to adapt to the working practices of local authorities and understand the Department of Transport complex licensing systems.

This was a good opportunity to network for all those involved in community transport and a great deal of helpful information can be gained through sharing experiences.

CAT needs energetic new members interested in attending such conferences. Come and join us.