New initiatives from DfT to support UK's first Sustainable Travel City; funding for green travel initiatives

Large urban areas across England are being given the chance to bid to become the country's first Sustainable Travel City.

Up to £29 million over the next three years will be invested in at least one of England's largest cities to encourage greener travel choices. These could include plans to support walking, cycling and initiatives to improve public transport.

This follows the success of the department's three Sustainable Travel Towns which, over the last five years, have seen car use fall by up to 9%, walking increase by up to 14%, and cycling increase at least 12%.

Transport Minister Paul Clark said: 'Our Sustainable Travel Towns have proved that with the right information and improved facilities we can make a real difference to how people travel.

'Giving people a real alternative to the car not only reduces congestion and carbon emissions but also increases the amount of exercise they take.

'The opportunity to become England's first Sustainable Travel City will be a chance to see these benefits on a much larger scale and I look forward to seeing the bids coming in.'

The aim of the Sustainable Travel City is to ease congestion, reduce carbon dioxide emissions and increase levels of physical activity in the local area. By achieving this, the City will provide a model for others to follow. The chosen city will introduce innovative new strategies and build on existing work to achieve this, such as;

* Work or school travel planning;
* cycle training;
* personalised travel planning;
* online journey planning;
* car share and club schemes;
* dedicated bus routes;
* improved bus stops and shelter;
* cycling / pedestrian routes;
* 20 mph zones;
* consideration of parking provision.

The major urban areas eligible to apply suffer from the worst congestion in the country. The 9 areas are; Greater Manchester, West Midlands, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, Merseyside, West of England (Bristol), Nottingham and Leicester.

We are also announcing up to £3 million of funding to smaller local authority areas to help them develop their own green travel initiatives.

Background

1. Eligible areas will be provided with full details and a bidding timetable during May. England's first 'Sustainable Travel City' will be announced later in the year.

2. The final total funding will depend on the quality of proposals and the size and number of city partners chosen. Up to £29m will be made available over the next three years to fund this programme including support to share learning and best practise with all local authorities to enable them to make the most of these measures in delivering their local objectives on congestion, climate change and health.

3. In return for the funding, we expect the chosen city /cities to provide a significant financial contribution and to build up an evidence base that proves sustainable travel measures are a viable and attractive option for the future.

4. The 9 major urban eligible areas form the Department's urban congestion target (excluding London). They are: Greater Manchester, West Midlands, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, Merseyside, West of England (Bristol), Nottingham and Leicester.

5. Under the Comprehensive Spending Review 2007 the Government has a Public Service Agreement which the Department leads on: Deliver reliable and efficient transport networks that support economic growth. Underpinning this target is an indicator regarding the journey time on main roads into urban areas. This states: By 2010-11 the ten largest urban areas in England will meet the congestion targets set in their local transport plan relating to movement on main roads into city centres. These are London, Manchester, West Midlands, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, Merseyside, West of England, Nottingham and Leicester. The target will be deemed to have been met if, on target routes in these areas, an average increase in travel of 4.4 per cent is accommodated with an average increase of 3.6 per cent in person journey time per mile.

6. Up to £3 million of funding is also being made available for other local authorities to help them develop their own sustainable travel programme by overcoming barriers, deploying technical expertise and enabling the rapid transfer of experience and best practice. Further details will be made available later in the year.

7. The current Sustainable Travel Towns are Darlington, Peterborough and Worcester. They were awarded around £10m by the Department over 5 years between 2004-2009 in order to implement 'demonstration' sustainable travel programmes. This followed the research "Smarter Choices - Changing the Way We travel" funded by DfT in 2004, which concluded that there were considerable potential congestion benefits to pursuing sustainable travel packages. Results from travel diaries in the towns have shown considerable reduction in car use, and increases in walking, cycling and bus use. A full evaluation is underway and will be published late in 2009.