Net Phase 2

Some good news on the grapevine today.

It seems that NET Phase 2, the planned extension for the Nottingham Tram, has been given the green light by the government.


This means extension of the current single tram line in Nottingham into a three line network, one of which will run past the bottom of my parents' road. The scheme has been in the pipeline for absolutely ages, but this is due to the British imperative of holding multiple consultations with every blade of grass along the route, and extending the timetable over a long period so as to maximise the spend on overheads and the chance of cancellation.

Today's good news means it's one step closer to actually happening though!

Hurrah! No more faffing negotiating the traffic in the car and trying to find a parking space in the broad marsh multi-storey. Just walk to the end of the road, get on a tram, and step off into the middle of market square. Much faster than the current bus service too, and with direct connections to Nottingham station!


I remain cautiously optimistic about NET Phase 2. There are still a number of doubts. For example funding has yet to be officially approved by the Department for Transport, and that includes a decision on the controversial Workplace Parking Levy which is part funding the scheme. The WPL is of course very politically unpopular due to the motorist knee-jerk persecution complex vote - an effect which I may have mentioned before as being something that I regard as a kind of cultural madness.

There's also the fact that, even if a decision on funding is actually made in the near future, construction of the new lines won't begin until after the next general election. This gives me a bit of a sinking feeling. Evidence of what's gone on recently with a Conservative administration now running London and the shelving of the cross-river tram scheme there implies that a new Conservative national government may not look favourably at the NET extenstion, because a tram isn't cars.

Where on earth we could put more cars in Nottingham is of course a very good question; the roads are already full of cars, and the space between the buildings is full of road.