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Buses, Sainsbury's & TescoThe transport section of a local green group, Sustainable Uttlesford, has requested Uttlesford District Council to look closely at Tesco's and Sainsbury's plans for public transport to and from their planned supermarket developments in Walden.. Their planning applications contain huge transport assessments written by consultants for the applicants and Sustainable Uttlesford's analysis lists many errors in both the 533-page document from Tesco and the 153-page one from Sainsbury's. Tesco claims that the existing bus service and stops at its store are adequate (neglecting to point out that it pays nothing towards these services and that 220 of the 221 return bus journeys to Tesco a week are subsidised at the expense of Essex County Council tax payers. Tesco plans to
The Tesco bus stop still has a sign boasting “the Post Bus stops here” despite the service having been withdrawn years ago. In contrast, Sainbury's offers some important support for public transport.
Unfortunately, Sainsbury's good intentions are marred by a poor understanding of how the existing bus services work and what needs to be improved. Like Tesco, they have made their predictions of usage rates of public transport based on studies in other parts of the country, rather than finding out how many people actually use the existing Walden services. These data are gathered by Essex County Council and Sustainable Uttlesford is using the Freedom of Information Act to try and extract the information that should have been used by the supermarkets' consultants. It is vital that UDC planners have access to accurate bus-usage statistics before making their decisions. Sainsbury's make two unfortunate assumptions:
The existing service 34 is poorly used mainly because Viceroy Coaches run the bus on a complex route with an incomprehensible timetable, no destination indicators on the bus (it just says “town service”) and with buses quite often carrying the wrong route number. Their timetable shows the High St stop at five different positions in the timetable and never indicates which side of the road the bus is likely to stop! Even though Essex County Council subsidise the service, they appear to have no power to make it more “user friendly”. Despite the fact that virtually all buses serving Walden from the surrounding villages are subsidised by Essex (or Cambridge) councils, bus tickets are not transferable between routes and through bookings are not possible. Thus it would cost someone who buys their bus tickets about £2 return extra to reach Sainbury's by changing to the service 34 in town than to reach Tesco on one of the many direct bus services paid for by Essex. Why no financial encouragement to use public transport?If Tesco & Sainsbury's are serious about encouraging shoppers at their stores to use public transport, perhaps they should consider offering to refund part or all of the bus fare against purchases at their stores: in the same way that Waitrose refund car-parking charges. Encouraging Essex County Council to improve Walden's busesIf UDC decides to permit the Sainsbury's development, Sustainable Uttlesford Transport Group recommends that it ensures that Essex County Council completely reviews and revises its subsidised bus services to offer a good service equally to the town centre and the two supermarkets. It should also take the opportunity offered of subsidy from Sainbury's to reduce its subsidy to shopping buses and use the money saved to make the new, improved town bus service also provide a seven-day a week service to the station and that this service is run by an operator willing to do a decent job of providing a usable bus service. Sustainable Uttlesford considers that Tesco's expansion should not be allowedunless it, like Sainbury's, it offers to allow “park-and-ride” visits to the town-centre from its car park and contributes significantly to the costs of the bus service at present provided entirely at tax-payers expense.
A Sustainable Food Market for Saffron WaldenA new local and organic fruit and vegetable market will be starting soon in Saffron WaldenSaffron Waldon Town Council has now approved the creation of this market and Uttlesford District Council offered a community grant. The Saffron Walden Community Interest Company has been formed to run the project. See full details on www.waldenlocalfood.co.uk Farmer's Markets & Vegetable Box deliveriesFull details of the local farmers markets and companies delivering fruit and vegetable boxes in the Saffron Walden area and now available here...
Uttlesford District Council now helps over-60s travel by train as well as busSustainable Uttlesford says they should publicise this betterAny Uttlesford resident over 60 can buy a Senior Railcard from Uttlesford District Council Offices for £19 - a saving of £5 on the price from Audley End station ticket office or any other railway station. These annual railcards give a one-third saving on almost all rail tickets anywhere in the UK and so pay for themselves with only one long journey or a few visits to London. David Corke (Chair of Sustainable Uttlesford's Transport Section) said "we are delighted that UDC has been able to improve the bus passes to start at 9.00am on weekdays - a free bus pass combined with a railcard now gives over-60s affordable public transport. We just wish UDC would publicise this success a bit better: their website does not mention the railcards and the forms for bus passes are well hidden. Click here for full details
Local Wildlife SitesUttlesford has over 250 nature reserves, local wildlife sites and other protected areas. See the full list, with maps, arerial photos and details here.... 1 |
Supermarket plans and public transport Local food market, farmers' markets and vegetable boxes
How to get you all England free bus pass - APPLY NOW
Sustainable Uttlesford Contacts
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© David Corke/ Sustainable Uttlesford |
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A (better) bus service to the stationFrom Monday 20th April Viceroy Coaches will be improving route 590: with the first bus leaving the High St n time to catch the 06:00 for London and evening buses connecting with trains arriving from London up to 20:33. As well as helping commuters this will mean that it is possible to use a bus to connect with trains on which is is possible to use cheap-day returns for visits to London. The first train cheap-day tickets are valid on leaves Audley end at 09:10 (bus 301 leaves the High St at 08:57) and the last train home with a connecting bus arrives at Audley End at 20:33 (bus 590 waits if the train is up to 10 minutes late). Using the cheap-day return tickets with a free bus pass and a senior rail card, over-60s can now enjoy a day in London for £10 (£13 including underground and bus cheap-day travelcard). Those who have to pay their bus fares are not so fortunate: the train will cost £15 (£19.50 including travel on London underground and buses) and you are not allowed to buy a return ticket on the bus because the outward bus is subsidised by Essex County Council and the homeward bus is not. So bus fares will add at least £3.00 to your train fare. Sustainable Uttlesford - the new name for
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