First leafletting today

Activists from the group took the opportunity today to distribute leaflets and talk with Glossop residents at the Christmas Celebration held by Friends of Glossop Train Station. It was clear that many people do not know about the threat posed to the tunnel (even people who work in the Rail industry!), but despite that, the response to the campaign was overwhelmingly positive.

Furthermore, High Peak MP Tom Levitt was present, and pledged to activists that he will sign the Early Day Motion.

We have a print-ready PDF of our leaflet available for download here. Please feel free to print this off and distribute it wherever you are.

Parliamentary Early Day Motion to stop National Grid's plans

Graham Stringer, the MP for Manchester Blackley, introduced an Early Day Motion (EDM) to Parliament this Tuesday protesting about the plans of National Grid for Woodhead. It reads as follows:

"That this House believes that, at a time when the Government Rail White Paper endorses the strategic freight network and forecasts rail usage doubling over 30 years, National Grid's proposal to embark upon a cabling project through the Woodhead Tunnel between Manchester and Sheffield would mean an irrevocable loss of rail capacity; and therefore calls upon the Government to investigate and intervene on this issue as a matter of urgency to prevent this strategic rail route being lost forever"

An Early Day Motion is a motion for debate. They are not usually openly debated in the House of Commons, but remain open for signature in the current parliamentary session.

So far, the EDM - number 459 of the 2007/2008 session - has attracted the signature of 9 MPs, although none from the constituencies that Woodhead runs through or is next to. We believe this is only a matter of time, but we would expect that the MP for High Peak, Tom Levitt, will sign, as the Eastern end of the tunnel is wholly within his constituency of High Peak and he has previously stated his support for the reopening of the line.

Please write to your MP - whomever they may be - asking them to sign the Early Day Motion.