Council: Derbyshire County Council
Project name: Travelling Light
Location: Hope Valley, Derbyshire
Purpose: Hope Valley is an area of outstanding national beauty (AONB) and a popular destination for tourists, with between three and five million visitors per year. As it is a rural area, 90% of visitors arrive by private car, causing significant local congestion and air quality issues. The Hope Valley Climate Action group (HVCA) has partnered with the local county council and the Department for Transport to set four aims for sustainable travel in the area:
1. Inclusive active travel;
2. Integrated public transport;
3. Reduced fossil fuel dependency.
Description: Thus far, the project has helped to:
Create an active travel corridor through Hope Valley to make walking and cycling safer and more convenient.
Made contributions to the local bus improvement plan.
Sharing best practice. The HVCA has worked with local tourism based businesses like bed and breakfasts to help make it as easy as possible for guests to ‘travel light’.
The partnership has a number of aims for the years ahead including:
Setting accessibility requirements for local train stations;
Creation and expansion of community car clubs;
E-bike hire schemes and storage;
Real time bus information;
Scaled up EV charge points.
Funding: The initial funding for the project came from the Derbyshire County Council, the Peak District National Park authority, the Department for Transport, and the Foundation for Integrated Transport.
Conservative councillor/council lead: Derbyshire County Council Chairman and Cabinet Member for Strategic Leadership, Culture, Tourism, and Climate Change, Cllr Barry Lewis and Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport, Cllr Charlotte Cupit.
Further links: Hope Valley Climate Action website, Foundation for Integrated Transport webpage, Travel light summary, Travelling light strategy.
Comments