7 December 2011
December 2011 newsletter
Members' Session this Friday
This Friday (9 December), we will be holding our final Members’ Session of the year. This will be held in our office from 15:30 to 17:00. Please tell us if you'd like to attend.
At the session, Paul Tetlaw (our Rail Campaigner) will be giving an update on what we think of the Government’s
‘Rail 2014’ consultation, and how members can respond.
We're also pleased to be joined by John Lauder (Director of Sustrans Scotland), who will be sharing his views on where we're up to with Budget campaigning, what could still be done to improve the situation, and what we might want to do next year. We will also present a general update on our current activities. Afterwards, we’ll be hosting the our Xmas Party, from 5pm till late. Please RSVP if you’d like to attend.
Scottish Budget
The period for submitting evidence to Parliament is over, and the next stage is for the Finance Committee report to publish its report (which we're expecting this week). After this, the Parliament will debate the report in the week before Christmas. In the New Year, there will be a final debate which will sign off the budget.
As many of you will know, we’ve been working hard, feeding evidence into the process and lobbying MSPs, often working jointly with other groups. We’re still hopeful that we can get the Government to reverse its misguided decisions to cut funding for active travel and rail freight, amongst other things. [It'd be fair to say that we also weren't over-impressed with yesterday's 'Infrastructure Investment Plan: here's a
joint FoE/Sustrans/Transform/WWF letter to The Herald in response, nor last week's UK Government
£5 billion hand-out to road users.]
We’ve got some plans for further campaign activities early in the New Year, and we’ll let you know as soon as they’re confirmed. In the meantime, if you feel like letting your MSP know what you think, feel free to use this
online action.
Railways
When Transport Scotland launched the
'Rail 2014' consultation a few weeks ago, they were immediately assaulted by the assembled forces of Scotland's journalists. Perhaps it was because they had floated the idea of
banning drinking on trains?
The Ministers immediately distanced themselves from the proposals, and the Government’s own website currently
gives a disclaimer which states that it’s got nothing to do with them! Don't they know that Transport Scotland is a part of the Scottish Government? Very strange.
A number of us have now attended consultation events on the proposals and Paul will be making our initial views known at Friday's Members’ Session (as indicated above). We're also going to meet with Transport Scotland in order to get their side of the story in some more detail. We'd welcome members' views -- and we'll be circulating our initial views before Christmas.
Paul has also been busy with other rail matters. We recently told the UK Government how to cut industry costs by abolishing
unhelpful security measures; set out how further improvements that can be made to the Central Belt railways in our
EGIP response; and called for new investment in the
Ayr-Stranraer rail route following the ending of the ferries from Stranraer to Ireland. We're also waiting the imminent publication by the Government of the business case for its high-speed rail plans (which we've been involved with).
New additions at Transform Scotland
Recently, there’s been quite a few changes in the people leading the work in Transform Scotland. As well as the recent appointment of our new Development Officer, Katriona Harding, we’ve taken on
a number of new volunteers, so here’s a brief introduction as to who they all are:
* Zoe Blah has been a volunteer since April, working on Transform Scotland’s communications. She helps with the social media, updating the website and compiles these lovely newsletters.
* Anna Brand also works on our communications, especially concerning our social media and web updates.
* Jetta Doran has just joined the team, helping Colin with general campaigns activities.
* Sophie van der Ham is a student at the University of Edinburgh, here for the year to help work on parliamentary track monitoring.
* Calum McCallum is leading the way on our smartcards campaign, and also tracks a multitude of Strathclyde issues.
* Minna Vertainen is continuing work on the Public Sector Travel Survey project. We're approaching releasing the first set of findings.
* John Webster is providing research assistance, and is currently working on a new parliamentary initiative.
* Finally, Paul Tetlaw, as mentioned above, continues as our Rail Campaigner.
Gearing up for Winter
We’re sure many of you are now thinking about your Yuletide travels, and we hope that you’ll be travelling sustainably! Among many operators, ScotRail have made a real effort to prepare for possible extreme weather conditions during the holiday season. If you don’t want to be stuck on the M8 for 24 hours (or perhaps stuck in foreign countries due to Icelandic ash clouds?)
take a look at the tips they offer.
We ourselves have been enjoying Edinburgh’s Princes Street, which is just around the corner from our office. This is not simply because of the delights of the
Winter Festival, but also because of the peaceful atmosphere due to the absence of vehicles. (OK, we'll excuse
Santa's Train.) It'll be interesting to see what impact the road closure has made on retailers' sales: the street doesn't appear bereft of shoppers. Perhaps the more attractive ambience will prove to have a beneficial impact? (At the very least, the shoppers' lungs and ears will have had some respite.)
Please let us know what you'd like in the next issue
This newsletter has been put together by Zoë Blah. Please feel free to
email me with your suggestions for content for next month's newsletter.
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Transform Scotland, the campaign for sustainable transport
5 Rose Street, Edinburgh, EH2 2PR, Scotland
t: +44 (0)131 243 2690
e: <info@transformscotland.org.uk>
w: <http://www.transformscotland.org.uk>
FB: <http://www.facebook.com/transformscotland>
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Transform Scotland Limited is a registered Scottish charity (SC041516)
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