Better Transport

You won’t get if you don’t ask

Sheila needed a solicitor’s help with her campaign to designate an area as a village green. But she couldn’t afford solicitor fees. So she simply sent out a few emails to solicitors she’d heard of, asking for their help. One responded and gave Sheila some very helpful targeted support – for free!

Push for information

When asked what skill a campaigner needs, Sheila doesn’t hesitate to answer: “dogged determination”. Without being too pushy, you need to keep pushing for the information you’re after and not be put off if your council is difficult. Sheila has put in hundreds of requests to the council for information and been able to make good use of what she’s found out. For example, she received minutes of a meeting which revealed it would cost the council £2 million simply to put together a plan for how to pay for the road! She used that astonishing figure in meetings and letters to the local paper to question the wisdom of the road. In another example, she kept asking for an explanation of how the council arrived at traffic forecasts associated with the proposed road because she couldn’t figure it out. Her constant querying revealed that people within the council didn’t have confidence in the forecasts!

Sheila knew she needed to read the environmental impact statement reports connected to the road – “there’s loads you can learn if you can slog through them”. But the reports were with the council and the council was threatening to charge Sheila heavy fees for photocopying the report. Sheila responded by threatening to go to the press. The council then put a copy in the public library.

Information is power, says Sheila, and great campaigning comes once you have confidence in yourself and you know what you’re talking about. You can use the information to “throw a spanner in the works.”

Keep the issue alive

Campaigning to stop a road can be a long, multi-year effort, one with many lulls while a council is reviewing things or deciding next steps. It’s therefore important to keep the issue alive with the public. Sheila says the Stockport group does two things to do that: writes to the paper – “if you drip feed stuff into the press, it does keep the issue alive” – and holds walks.

The group holds walks to show people how lovely the valley is – because many people have no idea and right through the middle of this industrial town is the most beautiful river valley, containing otters, kingfishers and buzzards. Every walk attracts about 50 people, even in poor weather. Sheila hands out lollipops and quizzes for the children – and ends the walk near a café, which the adults appreciate.

The local papers give press coverage to the walk before and after.