Democracy - alive and well with the beauty pagent starting up again
Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2013-12-16 08:50:45 - Graham Ellis
I suppose I should be happy that democracy is at work and the new candidates for the 2015 general election for the Chippenham constituency are starting to learn their way into the area. And I know they have to start somewhere... but I worry just a little at the appeal for popularism rather than meaningful informing and probing that this brings. I find it hard to believe that a new candidate is taking credit for a Wiltshire Council decision to spend £52 million on catching up on pothole repair, and I wonder if a questionnaire I'm asked to fill in is more about giving me a good feeling that I've been asked and able to give an answer that seems positive and in line with the candidate, rather than being a useful or meaningful input.
Let me explain that. I am asked "Do you think that we need to have a new rail station at Corsham and additional rail services serving Bradford-on-Avon and Melksham?" And I am given three boxes - "Agree, Disagree, Unsure" to answer. Not three boxes for each question, but three boxes to give one blanket answer. It's a nonsense - there are three questions that in my view need different answers, but the marketing pitch looks for a warm and fuzzy "agree" to a blunt principle.
Corsham could, indeed do with a station. Good idea that's been around for many years, but train service patterns need to be set up so that it's useful. There's a danger of the populist view being "build a station" but calling for one to be built in the absence of any services passing through that the operator / rail industry is willing to stop there.
Bradford-on-Avon already has 2 trains per hour each way. To add more? Maybe, but I'm not sure that the line has capacity for more services, and it would be far better to lengthen the trains from 2 or 3 carriages up to five or six. Running the extra capacity as "additional services" would cause operational issues, and cost more in terms of all the extra crews. Ironically, it would also use up more of the Bath - Bristol capacity and make it hard to lay on local trains passing through Corsham. So - which do you want - Corsham or Bradford-on-Avon?
Melksham ... well... the service went up from 2 to 8 each way per day about 10 days ago, and it's unclear to me whether the candidate is asking if I want more on top of the eight, or is asking based on the two. Starting from the current (8 each way) service, minor additions - most notable an 07:30 round trip from Westbury on Sundays, and a 21:15 round trip on Mondays to Fridays, would be really good within existing stock provision. A later northbound service on Saturdays, and a southbound service at around 07:40 from Swindon would be welcome but require a bit more work to provide. But beyond that we should concentrate for the next 18 months in getting the existing service well established rather than campaigning directly for many more.
I find - as I've made clear - the questions I've been asked to be shallow and asked in a divisive and biased manner. Whether that's the intent of the candidate, or the candidate's "men in grey suits" giving advise and pulling the strings, perhaps time will tell.
P.S. - The candidate in question is a follower of mine on Twitter (and following people who speak locally as I sometimes do is a good idea). Should there be any follow ups, I'll post them here, as it would be excellent to have the other side of the story