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Severe weather warning: midnight 23 Dec – 6am 24th Dec

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The Met Office have issued an Amber Warning of Wind, valid from 00:05 on Tue, 24th Dec 2013 until 06:00 on Tue, 24th Dec 2013.

“Southwesterly gales and locally severe gales will continue across southern and eastern parts of England during Monday night, but are expected to strengthen further across parts of southeast England, including SUFFOLK, in the Amber warning area, during the early hours of Tuesday, with gusts of 65-75 mph inland and 75-85 mph along exposed eastern coasts. The winds will ease from the west by morning.”
Note – Friday 27th sees return of gales and rain.

Heavy rain is anticipated although it is considered that this will only have the potential for localised surface water flooding with up to 20-25mm of rain across the county.  There may be other incidents of flooding in areas susceptible to flooding from fast reacting rivers – Rattlesden, Stowmarket  and possibly to Needham Market.

Widespread messages are being circulated to the public through the media – that “ the Public should be prepared for disruption, particularly to travel and for interruptions to power supplies.”

TRAVEL

Road:  The Highways Agency has closed the QEII Bridge at Dartford until further notice with traffic being diverted through the tunnels.  It is anticipated that the Orwell Bridge will be closed later this evening- based upon the wind limits, but hopefully after this evening’s homeward commute to ease congestion problems in Ipswich.

Suffolk Highways are activating their Highways Hub overnight to deal with expected road disruption.  However, crews will not carry out chainsaw clearances during darkness hours, but will make situations safe and put diversions in place.  Additional crews will commence shifts earlier tomorrow morning.

Rail: Anglia Rail tell us  50 mph speed restriction will be imposed across the Route network from 6pm this evening until first thing tomorrow morning. As a consequence there will be some cancellations and alterations to services.

Services in Anglia are not expected to resume until after 10am tomorrow morning, to be in position to clear the debris, etc. and also allow for “route proving trains” to check the lines before re-opened to services. If possible they will restore services before 10am but the advice to the public is not to look to travel tomorrow until after 1000 hrs.

POWER OUTAGES

It is anticipated that there will be power outages, especially along the coast.  UK Power Networks have initiated their emergency procedures.

GENERAL

Warnings are being sent regarding open areas, public spaces and parks and Right of Way regarding the hazards.

There may be loss of power affecting care homes and vulnerable people

Probable closure of Port of Felixstowe,  and increased congestion if Orwell Bridge closed.

Caroline Page

LibDem Spokesperson for Transport

Caroline Page, Dave Wood, National policy

A14 – why should years of underinvestment take an unjust toll?

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Dave WoodSuffolk Lib Dems are deeply critical of  proposals to toll the A14. “We are saying  to government “You have got this wrong! Listen to us and to what the people of Suffolk are saying and revisit your decision to toll the A 14.”  And the majority of Suffolk organisations,  both private and Local Authority-led, are with us, ”  Leader David Wood told October’s full council meeting last Thursday.

The Lib Dems amended the  Conservative motion (to persuade the government to reconsider the need for tolling on this much-needed infrastructure project) by adding in reference to Suffolk’s  pressing need for investment in sustainable transport from  Felixstowe to Cambridge and beyond.

” The A14  is an esssential conduit between East Anglia and the heart of England –  and yet for years there has been underinvestment by various governments in major infrastructure projects in East Anglia. Imposing a toll on the new road would be a further tax on Suffolk,” said Cllr Wood. “We have the largest port in the country, major industry that is expanding, a growing tourist economy  – the two AONB’s alone are worth £300m annually-  and yet we are being told that  if you want this highway  (its not even a motorway) you must pay for it!!  We wouldn’t mind so much if this were government policy across the country, but it isn’t. Of all the current  planned road-building schemes, only the A14  is planned to generate income, ”

“We recognise that Suffolk must be at the table when this subject is being discussed  if we are going to put the point across successfully. This is why we were unable to support a Labour motion to withdraw the £1m funding SCC’s putting towards this major project. A million pounds is a huge amount of money but Suffolk County Council  must be at the forefront of every discussion – putting the case for the people and industry of Suffolk to have its say and obtain a fair deal.

Investment in major infrastructure projects for East Anglia are long overdue which is why we are insisting  that rail links between Felixstowe to Cambridge and beyond  must also be looked at. Suffolk is an important player in the UK’s recovery and deserves investment without taxation,” said Cllr Wood.

Lib Dem spokesperson for Transport , Caroline Page, who seconded the amendment, adds ” years of underinvestment in Suffolk railways has left us with rail services from Ipswich to Cambridge and Peterborough which fall well short of what is required for effective day-to-day operation. In its current state the rail system is unable to provide a viable  alternative to a tolled A14.  This makes any decision to toll doubly unfair, because there isn’t the capacity for a reliable public transport alternative. ”

 

Caroline Page

Greater Anglia to remove cycles from trains?

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4SuffolkSUnriseWhile Suffolk’s public health team are encouraging people get out of their cars an onto bicycles, Suffolk train operator Greater Anglia has produced a draft cycle strategy  stating pretty unequivocally that their future intention is that they will no longer carry cycles on the trains.

The company says it is  intending to work towards “ a ‘corridor approach’ where a specific problem exists with cycles on trains, and to provide secure cycle parking and hire at both ends of the train journey so that customers are encouraged to either have a cycle at both stations, or to take advantage of cycle hire or possibly another sustainable mode of transport from their destination”. You can read the full  piece below.

“Whilst bike and go is a suitable model for some cyclists – principally those with simple journeys, who are affluent enough to afford two bicycles or the £3.50 a day to hire one – this plan will  further disadvantage those passengers who are poor, with few travel options, and/or need to take a train to and from a rural destination. The Wickham Market station at Campsea Ash is a prime example – here there IS no sustainable transport,  no likelihood of cycle hire, no secure parking, and the town is some miles of unpavemented, unoccupied rural road from the station,” says Lib Dem Spokesperson for Transport, Caroline Page.

“I am further concerned about  other wording elsewhere which suggests that folding bicycles may not in the future be considered as luggage, although they may well be smaller than other pieces of luggage. This is a worrying development.

As another part of this consultation, Greater Anglia are planning on setting up a Cycle Forum to assist them in decisionmaking. I have already written to ask that I be included in this, and am awaiting their response.”

The consultation relies on one to download a pdf  hidden on a page in Greater Anglia’s website and then make a  response in writing, or by email. 

Cycle Strategy Responses
Greater Anglia
11th floor
One Stratford Place
LONDON E20 1EJ
cyclestrategy@greateranglia.co.uk

Please clearly mark your response ‘Draft Cycle Strategy

 The  draft cycle strategy as relating to Cycles on trains:

“Our policy in the short term continues to be that we will try to accommodate the carriage of cycles on trains free of charge wherever we possibly can. However, we have to balance this demand with the views of our customers as a whole, some of whom are beginning to voice understandable concerns about the safety of carrying large numbers of cycles at peak times. Our objective for the medium to long term is therefore to reduce the carriage of cycles on trains by stimulating behavioural change.

Many of our trains carrying commuters into London and regional centres such as Cambridge are becoming increasingly crowded, and it has already become necessary to impose restrictions on the carriage of non-folding cycles at these times. We will keep these restrictions under review, but as the use of our services continues to grow, we believe that we and future franchisees will have to consider a widening of the restrictions to cover other routes and services. Unfortunately, it is not a simple matter to provide additional carriages, and the priority will always be to provide seated or standing accommodation for passengers.

We are therefore conscious that we need to work with stakeholders to find alternative solutions to this problem. These need to be viable alternatives, rather than just more punitive restrictions.

We believe the options are to take a ‘corridor approach’ where a specific problem exists with cycles on trains, and to provide secure cycle parking and hire at both ends of the train journey so that customers are encouraged to either have a cycle at both stations, or to take advantage of cycle hire or possibly another sustainable mode of transport from their destination. This reflects the culture in force in many parts of Europe and will require considerable resolve on the part of our company and all of our stakeholders if it is to become the norm in this country.

There may also be options around wider use of folding cycles, provided that these are used with sensitivity for the needs of other customers. We appreciate that there needs to be a considerable amount of partnership working and goodwill from all parties to manage this difficult situation. We undertake to work with other train operators on shared sections of route to manage the problem consistently and as sympathetically as possible. We will also engage with local authorities and cycling groups to implement the ‘corridor’ approach where it is practical to do so”