Airtrack petition delivered to Downing Street

May 12 2009 By Russell Butt

Members of Egham Chamber of Commerce with MP Philip Hammond

Egham Chamber of Commerce has handed a petition to 10 Downing Street calling for changes to the proposed Airtrack scheme.

The small group of campaigners delivered a 5,000 signature-strong petition to Prime Minister Gordon Brown's official residence, urging the him to revise plans for an express train link between London Waterloo and Heathrow Terminal 5.

The proposals would cause an increase in train numbers, that would lead to barriers at the three level crossings in Egham being down for up 44-minutes in every hour.

The Chamber does not oppose Airtrack in principle, but disagrees with the official view that a bridge or tunnel at crossing sites is neither "feasible nor justifiable". It says without action of some kind, Egham will grind to a standstill and people will avoid the area.

The chamber launched a three-pronged initiative with an online petition collecting more than 1,800 signatures, and more than 3,500 signatures from a paper petition circulated in the town. A further 1,200 people joined a campaign support group on networking website, Facebook.
Runnymede and Weybridge MP, Philip Hammond, has been an avid supporter of the campaign and joined the chamber of commerce team for the handover.

Chief campaigner for the chamber, Meher Oliaji said that the MP's backing had been invaluable in getting their cause government-level attention.
She said: "We are really appreciative of all the help from Mr Hammond, and his efforts on this issue. He has been talking to one of the ministers in the Department for Transport specifically about our level crossings problem."

The chamber of commerce is now crossing its fingers that the government will take notice and act in their favour.

If given approval, the Airtrack scheme could be up and running by 2012.