Transport

Transport generates 21 per cent of the United Kingdom’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from energy use and emissions from road transport for personal, business and freight travel continue to increase.

Local authorities are ideally placed to influence a significant proportion of these emissions, in particular those that originate in the local authority area. The provision and location of facilities and infrastructure can play an important role in encouraging a modal shift, whilst communications and awareness campaigns will influence the behaviour changes necessary to lock in reductions from local transport emissions.

The pages in this section will provide you with an overview of key action areas through which to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from road transport. You should look to all of these to help you achieve area-wide reductions:

1. Local Transport Plans and Strategies: an overview.
2. Personal travel – facilitating behaviour change and reducing the need to travel.
3. Using the planning system and developing sustainable infrastructure.
4. Demonstrating leadership - staff travel and council fleet.
5. Business and other public sector emissions.

Click the links below to access more information about:

Local Transport Plans in England: an overview

In England, the third round of Local Transport Plans places a clear requirement on local authorities to reduce carbon emissions from transport. It is one of five key goals that must be addressed by local authorities in a longer term plan than has previously been required. The rest of the pages in this section will all contribute to ensuring your LTP3 delivers these reductions.

Local Transport Strategies in Scotland: an overview

In Scotland, one of the key aims of Local Transport Strategies is to contribute to the national objective of protecting the environment in a local context. Reading all of the pages in this section on reducing emissions from travel will put you in a good position to ensure that your strategy achieves this aim.

Personal travel

Local authorities can influence constituents to reduce their transport emissions by promoting modal shifts (walking, cycling and the use of public transport) where possible and, where driving is still considered necessary, promoting smarter driving techniques and choices. Working with partners within and across your authority should also help you identify projects or initiatives that will deliver on multiple objectives as well as emissions reductions, including and health, wellbeing and accessibility, whilst making the most of available council resources.

Using the planning system and developing sustainable infrastructure

Planning is a powerful tool that should be used to deliver sustainable transport infrastructure to new communities and regeneration areas. Planning can help to deliver the infrastructure that will support a modal shift but also make sustainable transport choices the logical option for residents.

This can be achieved through making sustainability a priority of good spatial planning as well as using planing conditions and powers to support sustainable infrastrucure.

Demonstrating leadership - staff travel and council fleet

Your role as a leader of the community ought to begin by getting your own house in order. This should include demonstrating commitment through reducing emissions from the council’s ‘grey’ fleet, potentially one of the largest in the area, and reducing emissions from other staff travel. For example, by encouraging initiatives such as walking to work one day per week instead of travelling by car a member of staff can reduce their commuting emissions by 20%.

Business and other public sector transport

To be successful in achieving area-wide emissions reductions, it will be vital for local authorities to work with businesses and other public sector organisations. Work with your Local Strategic Partnership or Community Planning Partnership and other appropriate forums to build on existing relationships and, where you are working with private or other public sector stakeholders, encourage the same high standards for all project partners.

Further information on the legislative drivers for activity in transport can be found our policy pages:

• Policy in England
• Policy in Scotland
• Policy in Wales
• Policy in Northern Ireland

Further links and resources

The Department for Transport is referenced a number of times in the following pages and has produced a wide body of information useful to local authorities. The following contain good introductory information:

• Sustainable Travel pages
• Carbon Pathways – Informing development of a carbon reduction strategy for transport

The Scottish Government’s sustainable travel pages are also a useful source of information and links to all of the key organisations working in this area in Scotland.

The Campaign for Better Transport works to help secure transport policies and programmes that both improve peoples’ quality of life and reduce environmental impact.

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) has produced the following report to support joined up stakeholder working: Making the case: improving health through transport.

The EU Urban Mobility Action Plan was adopted on 30 September 2009 in response to a consultation on ‘ Towards a new culture for urban mobility’ Green Paper.

As well as national funding, you may wish to explore the following sources of European funding:

• CIVITAS Initiative – co-financed by the European Union, the CIVITAS Initiative works to promote cleaner and better transport in cities. It supports innovation, market development, uptake of integrated packages of policy and technology measures and funding demonstration projects.
• INTERREG IIC – an EU funded programme that helps Europe’s regions form partnerships to work together on common projects.

The below case studies are some examples of success stories so far. We would welcome additional examples to add to this:

• Nottingham City Council public transport.
• One Planet Sutton.
• Richmond Borough Council.