Lib Dems Finally Come off the Fence over Threat to Bristol-Bath Cycle Path

bristol | the environment | news report Friday March 28, 2008 22:43 by East - Bristol Green Party / Save the Railway Path east at bristolgreenparty dot org dot uk

Green refusal to accept a fudging amendment forces them to reconsider

Good news! The pressure of almost 10,000 petitioners and the coming demonstration on Sunday was enough to persuade the Lib Dems to finally take an unambiguous stance against plans to run buses down the former railway path. The mass of voices raised against the proposals is beginning to tell, and a good turnout on Sunday will almost certainly be enough to bury the threat to East Bristol's linear park and cycle way for good.

Just a quick update ahead of Sunday's demonstration and Tuesday's vote:

1) The Lib Dems finally threw their weight behind the campaign to save the path today. Having had their first amendment, which would have watered down the motion to save the path, leaving it as an option to be considered, rejected by ourselves and the Save the Railway Path campaign, they finally caved in and put forward a second amendment which keeps the clear rejection of the path as an option but adds a few extra details to make it look as if they're doing something. Rather cheeky on their part, but a small price to pay for their 33 votes in the council chamber on Tuesday.

2) This means that only 4 Labour or Tory councillors supporting the motion, or 8 abstainers, or somewhere in between, will be enough to save the path. Mark Bradshaw, the Labour politician pushing the BRT plans, has released a bizarre rambling video "updating" the world on the plans for the path. (the video is available at http://www.bristol.gov.uk/ccm/content/press-releases/20...it.en)
As far as anyone can understand it - and no-one's quite sure either in the Green Party or the Save the Railway Path Campaign itself - he seems to be saying the option of using the path would still have to be considered if the Bus Rapid Transit plans went ot a public consultation. So one final push needs to be made to encourage the 7 Labour and Tory councillors who have already said they will support Tuesday's motion to carry through that promise. We are so close to saving the path. If enough of us turn out on Sunday, we will succeed.