[Graham Jones]

Yes I agree Tealeaf, looking back is great but in reality the cost of a local rail system [trams] is prohibitive. I think the Labour councillor from Blackburn?? who mentioned hills as a problem clearly has no memory of the days when carriages built of far weighter materials than today did just that. PFI will cost the town even more. Cheaper to borrow from the public works loans board or agreed public lenders such as the major banks and take ownership of the development.

And as I said, engine technology is moving to the point of zero pollutants in the H2O engines. Its obvious that here modern public transposrt should be an intergration of an upgraded rail network, the East Lancs Line and possibly a completeion of the line through Todmorden to Manchester [it is missing s few hundered yards of track] faciliting a Blackburn Manchester Tod Blackburn circular.

And to re-regulate buses saving the tax payer the subsidies on teh loss making roots and having a proper lead on investing in eco friendly vehicles. And of course to build up an interchange here in Hyndburn [reusing one of our older buildings and building on our heritage], with a integrated public transport timetable and on demand electronic information at bus stops, ie how many minutes is the next bus away.

I dont think these are major or ridiculously expensive ideas so long as they planned long term.