Agenda item

Richard Lovell,  Senior Project Officer, Sustainable Travel, Derbyshire County Council attended the meeting to provide clarification on the role of the Team and the areas they covered.  There were four specific areas:

1.    Travel Planning – the original focus of the team in 2011 was on travel planning for schools and workplaces, but has expanded  to include local communities such as the Buxton Town Team on developing a town wide travel plan which had recently been out for consultation and would possibly be used as a model for other communities, along with the Hope Valley Climate Action Group’s Travelling Light Programme.

2.    Walking and Cycling – focus on delivering a county wide network of strategic local routes (which will cater for horse riders wherever possible).  Key priorities include the Pennine Bridleway and White Peak Loop (due to be completed by 2025).  Feasibility studies underway for White Peak Loop around Buxton and Derwent Valley Cycleway which includes Derby to Chatsworth. The aim was to continue to develop a Key Cycle Network (KCN) with local connections to provide off road routes for safer cycling. Work is ongoing in relation to e-bikes which provide a solution to the issues around the landscape of the Peak District, as well as public transport interchanges and their links to the cycle network. Richard suggested returning to the Forum when these pieces of work are completed to present findings.

3.    Low emission vehicle infrastructure – DCC have set a target of 1,000 public facing electric vehicle charging points across the county by 2025.  The phasing out of petrol and diesel cars by 2030 is putting pressure on the work.  A feasibility report has just been completed in draft form to outline where the demand will be required. Additional challenges were acknowledged in rural areas where supply of power may not be suitable. Additional officer resources had been approved for the team to work on this area.

4.    Low Carbon Mobility – with a particular focus on transport mobility hubs. The train stations at Buxton and Hope were part of a study which looked at the possibility of catering for the needs of the community and visitors using electric vehicles, additional resources were being sort to support the team on this work.  The Bus Service Improvement Programme was closely linked to this work.  The plan had been submitted to the  Department for Transport (DfT) in October 2021 and this had had a favourable response. The plan included mobility hubs which will be funded from the money received from the DfT.

Members of the Forum asked questions regarding Peak Resort, work on Pennine Bridleway, improvements to mountain bike trials, provision of facilities for cyclists and improvements to routes.