On 22nd April (7 p.m., Bridge House, Trowbridge - that's near the station), candidates for the Wiltshire Unitary Election will be putting their positions and answering questions on public transport in Wiltshire.

The meeting is being organised by the West Wilts Rail Users Group but is a PUBLIC meeting and all are welcome.   There will be speakers from all the major parties (including the current cabinet member responsible for transport and tourism, I understand) and some independents too.  This is a good opportunity to show your support.

Train connections are available from and to Salisbury, Warminster, Dilton Marsh, Westbury, Bradford-on-Avon and Avoncliff. Return rail travel to Bedwyn and Pewsey is not available. From Chippenham, you can travel via Bath.   No practical train service for this meeting from Melksham (but the 234 bus is available, and the meeting is being held 2 weeks before the 237 service is withdrawn)

Wednesday evening ... and the "Hustings" meeting of the West Wilts Rail Users Group at which a representative of four political parties (Conservative, Green, Labour and Lib-Dem) each spoke on "Sustainable public transport - a reallity for Wiltshire" for ten minutes, then the panel took questions on the topic.

I have to confess to a degree of disappointment.   The current cabinent member on the council - Fleur de Rhe-Philipe - spoke in an authoritative and impressive manner.  Much of what she explained - limited budgets, the huge costs of subsidising buses (up to 12 pounds per "bum on a seat" on some routes!), and the need for road as well as rail to be considered - is correct and accurate. But hidden beneath the veneer of confidence and facts that she is so familiar with were some real omissions and false assumptions that coloured the whole picture.   For example, I'm not so sure that I see it as a positive development if Wiltshire Council's policy on the TransWilts is to push for its inclusion in the next franchise - which sounds great, but put another way it means that their policy is to ask the government to re-introduce the service soon after 1st April 2016, which is a bit too far in the future for my liking.  And her body language was fascinating to watch too ... she was clearly aware that the other people on the platform (and most of the audience) didn't have the same detailed information and background that she has.

Why - when the whole meeting was about "sustainable public transport" - did we end up on the subject of the A350 improvements and in particular a bypass for Westbury?  It's a subject that I know something about (and can thus make some comment) but on which I am not an expert.  I appreciate the problems of heavy lorries shaking houses in Westbury to pieces, and that a peak hour stop on the A350 by a delivery lorry can cause a big jam sometimes, but as to the solution ... well - it's not really in the public transport realm when (as I understand it) there would be few if any buses using any new road.  And, again, false claims.  "We have talked to all the businesses from the M4 down to Westbury and they all want the bypass"  Hmmm - businesses do want good road access indeed, but I would be very suprised if you talk to the businesses in Chippenham and Trowbridge and find that they're desparate for it.  I suspect that they would far rather have road spending on improving their M4 access rather than pulling yet more traffic up the A350 by improving it at the southern end of West Wiltshire.  I can totally agree that Warminster businesses would be fully in favour, and for them it would be a good spend.  Ms de Rhe-Philipe's address is Warminster ...

I would probably be being very unfair indeed to the other speakers if I critisised them for being less informed on public transport matters than Fleur. But I would have liked them to be somewhat better informed than they were.  I found myself listening to some cases / aspirations / ideas which sounded fine but really aren't going to work.  I found some breathtaking holes in their knowledge - I cannot expect every candidate for the unitary council to understand all the transport issues, but these are the people who had been put forward (or who had put themselves forward) as spokespeople and I would have expected a little more (or a lot more!) reading into the subject.

On the positive side, "TransWilts" is clearly a topic that each of the major parties has noted / it was in "their" 10 minutes.  And all spoke apparently in favour (although I still think it's "talk the talk" rather than "walk the walk" from the incumbent).  There's a strong need to remind everyone that this isn't just a Melksham issue.  Remember - Trowbridge -> Swindon, 95 minutes by bus of 35 minutes by train. Salisbury -> Chippenham, 2 hours by bus or 55 minutes by train.  And these are real, major passenger flows for the voters of Wiltshire.  For sure, the people of Melksham are by far the most deprived by lack of any current service to talk of, but benefits would flow to all five of the largest population centres in the area - Salisbury, Chippenham, Trowbridge, Melksham and Warminster.

It was a great shame that the meeting has to finish early with Fleur leaving soon after 9. And before many of us got a chance to put a single question. But I have to admire the clever strategy of that early departure - a formidable lady, and very effective for the team for whom she bats.