February 2002

Today is the day that London starts charging drivers to get into the centre of London. Everyone will be interested to see what effect this has on traffic levels, especially given the overcrowding on London's public transport system. This BBC London article about the scheme also mentions its possible introduction in Nottingham but the Congestion Free Nottingham website from the City of Nottingham council specifically rejects toll road style charging. This government web page has some background information on Nottingham, London and other planned schemes.

Update: Nottingham Evening Post has a story on congestion charging in Nottingham.

Today may be the traditional day for lovers but there is no love is being expressed on the BBC's Tram site. The current topic is cars versus trams: cost and safety. As ever BACIT believe in facts and providing sources for our information so here is a bumper selection.

Road Safety/Public vs. Private vehicle accident rates:
http://www.uk-roadsafety.co.uk/Accident_Count/accident_count.htm
http://www.rossiterandco.com/caraccidentstatistics1.htm
http://www.cfit.gov.uk/factsheets/03/
http://www.transtat.dft.gov.uk/facts/accident/bandc/bandc98.htm#cr
http://www.transtat.dft.gov.uk/tables/2002/ragb/articles.htm
http://www.transtat.dft.gov.uk/roadsafe/#other%20useful%20web%20sites
http://www.transtat.dft.gov.uk/tables/tsgb02/1/section1.htm#1.6

Rail accident statistics:
http://www.hse.gov.uk/railway/rsb0102.pdf

Tram/LRTA statistics:
http://www.fausto.freeserve.co.uk/NewsAug02.html

Environmental:
http://www.dcb.org.uk/facts.html

One of the purposes of this site is to highlight the flaws, inconsistencies and sometimes the plain stupidity exhibited by the Antis. One such example is views expressed by Mrs Betsy Clark in the Nottingham Evening Post. Mrs Clark is campaigning against the redevelopment of Broxtowe College and was quoted in this article complaining about the problems with car parking caused by the students. Now Mrs Clark my have a valid point, I don't know what the parking is like around the college. However its very strange that the very same Betsy Clark wrote this letter to the Evening Post championing the car over trams and buses. This behaviour is typical for the Nimbys and Antis; demanding the right to have cars, to park them where they like and drive them through streets free of congestion but are against anyone else doing that or any development that help make the roads less congested.

Its worth noting that Broxtowe's redevelopment includes a tram stop, that trams take cars off the road so the redevelopment of Broxtowe could easily reduce the parking problem in the area.

If you want a few minutes of informative surfing, have a look at these web sites about the word, psychology and campaigns against of nimbyism.

http://www.wordspy.com/words/NIMBY.asp
http://www.gcastrategies.com/nimby.html
http://environmentalchemistry.com/yogi/hazmat/articles/nimby.html

I particularly like the acronym mentioned here, BANANA which stands for Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anyone. I think the anti-tram lot are BANANAs.

County Councillor Stan Heptinstall has taken the time to write to us on the recent discussions at the County Council.

"The procurement issue for lines 2 and 3 was discussed at ... the County Council.... all labour members present voted FOR; all conservative members voted AGAINST. Two of the three Liberal Democrats voted AGAINST and one (me) voted FOR. The motion was carried, which means that the preferred procurement option can be pursued................ I should emphasize that both [my] colleagues are very positive about the move to extend the tram in south Notts."

Read the full message and Steve Barber's comments on what this means here.

Apologies for the hiatus in updates, trams had to take a back seat to the more pressing issue of earning a living. Only the fact that BCBRA haven't updated their web site for four or five months makes me feel better.

A quick round up of things that have happened over the last couple of months:

Merseyside is set to get a tram following a recent funding announcement. The Nottingham Evening Post has run several tram stories including this one highlighting how traders on Radford Road have survived the building of the tram and now look to increased profits. Manchester have announced they will allow bicycles on phase 3 of their tram system. I hope NET take note. Broxtowe College issued a glossy leaflet about the planned redevelopment which incorporates the proposed tram stop and we have heard reports of about a campaign against the redevelopment (though not explicitly against the tram). OAP's in West Bridgeford have started campaigning to get the tram into their area. On a related note we received this pro-tram letter about OAPs and the Sheffield Tram. The New Addington Advertiser (sorry can't find a web page) reported that the trams were the only reliable form of transport during the recent snow chaos.