Transport for Better: Cities and City-regions

On 20^th April, we held the first of an initial series of three events under the heading ‘Transport for Better’. Focusing on the planning of future transport provision in cities and city-regions, the purpose of this series is essentially twofold:

• to enable transport planners better to understand the challenges and opportunities that the leaders of our cities and city-regions face; and
• to establish how transport planners can best support those leaders to enable those places to become better – in terms of their public, economic and environmental health.

Speakers at the well-attended event were Sue Flack (former Director of Planning and Transport at Nottingham City Council) and Martin Capstick (Director, Regional Transport Strategies at the DfT). Sue gave us an excellent account of the whys and hows of Nottingham’s pioneering work in introducing a Workplace Parking Levy and using it to fund the extension of its tram network; while Martin set out the current opportunities for, and benefits of, cities and regions taking greater control of their transport futures, along with some of the potential pitfalls and hurdles. With new TPS Chair Lynda Addison at the helm, there was then an engaging Q&A session, which included contributions from those listening in online.

The next events in the series will cover the new London Mayor’s Transport Strategy (although that event has been delayed due to General Election purdah), and an event in Manchester on 15^th June, with invited speakers from Transport for Greater Manchester, Transport for the West Midlands and Transport for the North.