York Civic Trust welcomed the new Local Transport Strategy agreed by City of York Council in July 2024. The Civic Trust has supported the Council for the last three years in developing a strategy. As part of this work the Civic Trust through it Transport Advisory Group published its own recommendations in A Transport Strategy for York to help discussion and debate. You can read a summary of the Strategy and the complete Strategy can also be downloaded. We are delighted that the Council’s new Local Transport Strategy adopts many of the principles which we have advocated.
To support the Local Transport Strategy the council published a draft implementation plan in September 2024. York Civic Trust welcomes draft Implementation Plan as a positive step forward – but it is far too small a step for York if the city is to meet the council’s ambition to be net-zero carbon by 2030. The Civic Trust’s full response to the implementation plan can be read here.
.
The City of York Council’s 2022 Climate Change Strategy has an ambition for the city to be carbon neutral by 2030 – now only six years away. Changing how we move around the city will be a significant part of the measures that will be needed to achieve this ambition. The Council’s target is for a 71% reduction in carbon from transport by then, and we suggest how this can be achieved.
More recently we have submitted a number of recommendations for the further development of the Council’s Strategy. These include proposals on how to measure performance and set targets, quick wins – measures which could be implemented within the next year, and recommendations for the development of the proposed Movement and Place Plan, which offers a unique opportunity to improve York’s environment, public space and the setting of its historic monuments. A first indication of what might be achieved can be seen in our proposals for Exhibition Square and Gillygate. We have also provided nine case studies of good practice in the UK and elsewhere in Europe.
.
Our work on transport is led by Professor Tony May, Emeritus Professor of Transport Engineering at the University of Leeds, who has fifty years’ experience in the development of urban transport policy. He in turn draws on the specialist skills of a number of Trust members, whose expertise includes urban and transport planning, environmental and safety impacts, active travel, public transport, freight, traffic management and transport modelling. We also work closely with specialist groups, including Sight Loss York, Walk York, York Bus Forum, York Cycling Campaign and York Environment Forum to share skills and avoid duplicating our efforts.