Save the Railway Path - Details of March 30th and April 1st Protests Finalised

bristol | the environment | news report Saturday March 15, 2008 11:09 by East - Bristol Green Party east at bristolgreenparty dot org dot uk

Critical mass of Bristolians to protest at Council House on these two dates

The details of the March 30th and April 1st protests to save the Bristol-Bath railway path have been finalised.

March 30th will be the first annual celebration of the path. April 1st will be the first and probably only chance for protestors to make their feelings known directly to the Bristol politicians who will be deciding the path's fate.

If you can make either of these crucial dates please do - these are not just going to be important protests; they're going to be a lot of fun as well!

Timetable for March 30th Path Celebration

The final details of the two events are as follows:

1) Sunday March 30th, 2.30pm on - The First Annual Celebration of the Bristol-Bath Railway Path

Please join the Save the Railway Path campaign on Sunday March 30th for a fun family day celebrating railway path and the benefits it brings to walkers, cyclists, disabled people, schoolkids and everyone else in our community.

All Welcome!

Bring your banners, musical instruments, fancy dress and friends to show that we love the path as it is.

The procession will start down the path from Fishponds at approx 2.30pm - simply join us as we pass your bit of the path (eg Devon Rd bridge c.2.45)!

(Cyclists will be pushing their bikes alongside pedestrians, rather than riding them, and stewards will be keeping non-protestors using the path ahead of/behind the procession well warned of what's going on.)

Or meet us at the bottom of the path in Newtown Park (St Phillips, near Trinity centre) at 3pm where there will be a samba band, Playbus and other stuff going on.

Note that these times could well slip as we are expecting a lot of people and therefore possibly a slower than expected procession! If we're not at the places above at the times above, please just hang on - we will get there before too long!

We will then continue from about 4pm via Old Market, Castle Park and Baldwin Street, reaching College Green at 4.30pm. There, in front of the Council House, a rally with speakers will take place to give a voice to the vast majority of Bristolians who are opposed to the proposed plans to destroy the path by running buses down it.

Note that the clocks go forward the night before!

2) Tuesday April 1st, 5.45pm on - Charlie Bolton's Motion to Save the Path

Whether you can make March 30th or not, please consider coming along to Council House the following Tuesday, when Bristol City Council will be voting on a motion to reject the proposed plans to run buses along East Bristol's 'linear park'.

There will be a rally and photo call on College Green from 5.45pm on, prior to the start of the Council meeting at 6pm. At that point, we will all go in to the public gallery to hear the various statements that have been submitted opposing the plans read out.

Then, at around 9pm, the vote itself will be taken - if it's won, the plans that threaten the path will be history.

There's nothing more persuasive to councillors than a packed public gallery full of ordinary people making their views known. Home Care and adult education have been saved through pressure like this already. So if there's any way you can come along on April 1st, even if only for the vote itself around 9pm, please do.

At the moment, it looks like we just need to convince a couple more Labour and Tory councillors of the strength of feeling against the plans to win the vote - though some of the Lib Dems, and especially their leaders, may also need encouragement to cast a decisive vote against the plans. So please, please come along - it could make all the difference.

More Info about March 30th