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BCP COUNCIL is set to receive more than £3.7m in funding for active travel projects across the conurbation.
A total of £3.78m will be put towards five schemes in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole with the money coming from the government’s Active Travel Fund. Some £1.3m will be allocated to continuing improvement works to the shared cycling and walking path through the Upper Gardens in Bournemouth. This includes widening, resurfacing and new lighting for the path. A new crossing will be added to Branksome Wood Road to link the Upper Gardens to Coy Pond Gardens. Phase two of the Whitecliff and Baiter Park project will receive £1.1m, continuing the segregated footpath and cycle track around the waterfront. Meanwhile, new crossings will be added to Labrador Drive and Furnell Road as a part of this initiative. A combined total of £980,000 will be put towards cycling and walking infrastructure on Wallisdown Road.Of this money, £500,000 has been given to phase three of the project, including the continuation of segregated cycle lanes south to Scott Road and upgrading the path across Turbary Park.The development of further plans for the remaining sections of the road without ‘adequate walking and cycling infrastructure’ will be allocated £480,000. This includes a section around the Wallisdown Roundabout and the shops, and the section between University Roundabout and Boundary Roundabout. A final £400,000 will be used to install permanent measures at four school streets locations in the conurbation. This may include traffic calming measures designed in collaboration with the local community. The council will be working with Active Travel England in implementing the initiatives, which must start as soon as possible and need to be completed by March 2025. BCP Council has now received a total of £4.97m in active travel grants from the group.
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They're fitted with pollution-reducing Living Walls which consume carbon and produce oxygen.
'Green' vending machines have been installed at Bournemouth train station as part of a world-leading, innovative trial. SWR has partnered with Christchurch-based Decorum Vending, who have worked with Regency Design and phs Greenleaf to design the world’s first living walls that can be attached to the sides of vending machines. The living walls - which are small, self-sufficient, vertical gardens - have been developed to thrive in all locations, whether sunlight, shady or covered, and if the trial at Bournemouth is successful, they will be making an appearance on machines at other locations on the SWR network. It is also said to use 54% less electricity than previous versions and has a smaller environmental impact through the use of upgraded refrigerants. Annually, each wall consumes nearly 5kg of carbon and produces 2.4kg of oxygen while combatting air pollution and increasing biodiversity. The walls’ structures are made from recycled coffee grounds and all removed plants are recycled back into biomass. Living walls have been proven to effectively reduce harmful nitrogen oxides while providing a boost to biodiversity, by providing accessible habitats for insects and other wildlife. The new vending machines join other innovations in Bournemouth including station benches made from recycled plastic bottles and a plastic-free dispenser for both still and sparkling water. The Dolphin in Poole and BCP Council have announced that Dorset’s first secure public cycle storage facility officially opens on Monday, February 27.
To celebrate the opening, members of the public are invited to attend the official launch event, taking place on Monday, February 27 in the cycle hub, located by the Primark entrance to The Dolphin. The public can drop in between 10am to 2pm to view the facility and ask any questions. The Dorset Police Neighbourhood Team will also be on site to provide free bike tagging for attendees, which is a highly effective track and trace solution, to enhance security for bike owners. The Dolphin’s retailer, Cycle Paths, will also be in attendance to offer free bike safety checks and carry out any minor repairs or adjustments on the day. The Dolphin Cycle Hub uses an innovative cycle parking model provided by Spokesafe and includes secure parking for up to 34 bikes, cargo bikes and non-standard cycles. The hub offers 24-hour access for members and affordable storage options start from as little as £1 per day for Pay As You Go bookings. There are also various weekly and monthly membership packages available* for those looking for regular secure storage solutions. The facility has been funded by BCP Council’s Department for Transport’s Active Travel Fund. Its programme, ‘Transforming Travel’, aims to create and promote greener, healthier, better-connected travel options across the county, particularly for shorter journeys. The Dolphin Cycle Hub also offers a repair station and pump service, personal storage lockers, and electric charger points are also available for members to use while storing their e-bikes. Please visit www.spokesafe.com/dolphin-cycle-hub to browse the available packages and to book a storage slot. The £2 cap on bus fares in England has been extended for three months following warnings that hundreds of services could be cut if it ended.
The cap applies to more than 130 bus operators outside London. It had been due to expire on 31 March, but has been extended until the end of June. Bus operators have been struggling to maintain service levels in the face of rising costs and passenger numbers not recovering to pre-pandemic levels. The cap was introduced partly as a cost of living measure but is also meant to encourage people back on to buses. Up to 15% of services could have been scrapped without further funding, the Confederation of Passenger Transport, which represents bus and coach firms, said earlier this month. During the pandemic the government provided £2bn to support bus firms, who provide the most popular form of public transport in England. It said the extension for bus fares would be backed by up to £75m in funding. The two-year trial of e-scooters in the BCP Council area has been declared a success, with a 31 per cent increase in journeys made this way in 2022.
The Beryl e-scooters arrived in the conurbation two years ago, in January 2021. Riders have made more than 600,000 journeys, clocking up more than two million kilometres of travel. According to the Department of Transport’s national evaluation, BCP’s e-scooters are the second most utilised out of 32 areas in the country, generating four trips per scooter, per day. This equates to more than 90 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions saved – the equivalent of around six million kettles boiled or almost 527 flights from London to Edinburgh. The scheme has now been extended until May 2024. Beryl CEO and co-founder Phil Ellis said: “We know the demand is there and believe that legalising the use of e-scooters would make them more accessible, boost their popularity and normalise their presence on our roads. “This would amplify calls for better infrastructure, which would not only improve safety, but also the perception of safety, and encourage even more people to leave their car keys at home.” “Ultimately, that will help reduce traffic congestion and carbon emissions while improving air quality and public health.” During the trial period, e-Scooter riders are required to provide a valid UK Driving Licence to participate. Projects to encourage active travel across the region have been given a £287,000 boost with a new support grant awarded to BCP Council by Active Travel England (part of the Department for Transport – DfT) from Central Government’s Capability and Ambition Fund.
The School Streets campaign in the BCP Council region, temporarily closed some roads outside of Schools entrances to reduce pollution outside the schools and encourage active travel by the children and parents. The scheme has been widely welcomed as a success.Projects to encourage active travel across the region have been given a £287,000 boost with a new support grant awarded to BCP Council by Active Travel England (part of the Department for Transport – DfT) from Central Government’s Capability and Ambition Fund. The award will be used to fund a number of initiatives across the conurbation, which will help encourage local people to change their travel behaviour and consider adopting active travel. One such project is the design and planning of more secure cycle parking facilities across the BCP Council area. Fear of bike theft is one of the main reasons preventing people from cycling and providing more secure bike storage could help encourage more people to cycle for everyday journeys. Funds from the grant will also be used to continue the popular and successful ‘Active Travel in Schools’ work, which includes ‘School Streets’ and the ‘Bike It Plus’ projects. Both are aimed at improving the safety of school children whilst encouraging them and their families to take up cycling, walking, wheeling and scooting to school. But it is not just the short-term initiatives which this grant will help. Last year BCP Council adopted its Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP) which sets out a long term strategy for sustainable transport infrastructure. The Council team will soon start working on a large project to consider active transport modes alongside all other types of transport, incorporating the LCWIP into an overall transport plan for the BCP Council area. On top of this, the grant will help fund our work with Dorset Police on the security tagging programmes. You can follow Dorset Police on social media to find out where and when their next cycle tagging events will be taking place. Parts of a major programme to improve cycling, walking and bus routes are to be put on hold as the £102million budget can no longer cover the costs of the work.
BCP Council and Dorset Council were awarded £79million from the Department for Transport’s transforming cities fund (TCF) for the south east Dorset region. This was topped up by around £23million from the councils, business groups and transport companies. The investment was due to deliver 78 kilometres of new cycle and walking options and bus improvements across six “sustainable travel routes”. Work has already started on part of all six routes, with various sections at 10 locations complete or under way. However, it has now been confirmed to the Daily Echo the councils have tabled revised plans to the Government department with parts of the original programme deferred until more money can be found. No details have been given on which schemes in the programme will be put on hold as a result of the funding issue. The local authorities said escalating costs of construction materials and labour due to the pandemic, and rising fuel costs and inflation were factors in the finance problem. Changes to the national design standards for cycling infrastructure had also had a “considerable” impact since the funding was awarded in March 2020. A spokesperson for south east Dorset’s transforming cities fund programme said: “These unforeseen financial increases, which are outside of BCP Council and Dorset Council’s control, mean the TCF budget is no longer sufficient to cover the full network of cycle, walking and bus improvements originally planned across the region. “As part of a national TCF review by central government of all 12 city-regions who received TCF funding, we have submitted revised plans proposing the improvements that can continue to be constructed and funded through south east Dorset’s TCF and those that are proposed to be deferred until further funding has been secured. As part of the intros, Belinda advised she is looking into a West Dorset-wide approach to Dorset Council for a project to establish car clubs and e-bike rental hubs around here, linking to Axminster, Seaton, Crewkerne and other places on East Devon and South Somerset which have or will have these facilities. Her perception is that there is more focus at DC for East Dorset transport, and she would like to know what others interested in transport think. She also advised that Ray Bryan is seaking to the Transport Select Committee, the only Cllr speaking to them.
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Responsible (https://www.wearepossible.org/latest-news/ltns)
We’ve just conducted the biggest ever study of LTNs, looking at over 40 schemes, and the results are clear. Low traffic neighbourhoods reduce traffic on residential streets by nearly half. That means our communities are quieter, safer, and nicer places to live. We have worked with the University of Westminster’s Active Travel Academy to publish the most comprehensive study of low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) ever, showing that streets within LTNs experience substantial, overall falls in traffic and, implying significant changes in street use. This report shows that most streets within low traffic neighbourhoods see reductions in traffic, improving the experience of walking and cycling. Two-thirds of these neighbourhoods now have vehicle flows below 1000 vehicles a day, compared to only two-fifths before. Across London the average traffic reduction within LTNs was 46.9%. Little impact on boundary roadsWhat’s more, there is little indication of this traffic being simply displaced onto boundary roads. Average motor traffic counts showed that on boundary roads, traffic changed relatively little - with a less than 1% increase on the mean average of 11,000 vehicles that pass through boundary roads on a typical day. Average decreases in motor traffic on roads within LTNs are almost ten times higher than average increases in motor traffic on boundary roads. This suggests that not only do LTNs have substantial benefits inside their boundaries by creating an overall reduction in traffic, but they can also contribute to wider traffic reduction goals. Our study shows that LTNs mean more people can get around by walking, wheeling, cycling and scooting, and fewer motorists are using minor roads as a cheeky shortcut. But there’s more. Our study blows concerns about congestion on surrounding roads out of the water. The average increase in traffic on the surrounding roads is just one percent. That's an extra 82 cars per day on roads which usually carry 11,000 cars. This means LTNs don’t just cut traffic in the local community, they cut traffic full stop. Influence the Dorset Local Transport Plan and Dorset Local Plan to enable new and existing developments to be more accessible by modes other than the car and ensure better, sustainable connectivity to and through Purbeck.
Version 1.0 of the Plan was circulated to PTAG for comment and approval. It was then submitted to the appropriate departments in DC, BCP and to other Dorset TAGs. This was completed by the end of May 2022. Version 2.0 will be distributed in the same way early in November 2022. Covers bus, mobility hubs, rail, cycle/walk routes & 20mph speed limits. |
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