Monday 13^th November is Transport Planning Day, a campaign led by the Transport Planning Society to celebrate what is going on in the world transport planning, to showcase its benefit to communities, and to chart a direction for the profession. 

Taking place annually, the day centres around a different theme each year, and this year the campaign will focus on planning and delivering a rapid and equitable transition to a decarbonised transport system. The Transport Planning Society propose that once we start to transition to a decarbonised model of transport, equity will be fundamental to not marginalise groups of people or accentuate existing inequalities. 

But why does this matter? 

The current cost of living crisis is increasing existing disparities in our society, including transport provision. People on lower-incomes contribute the least to CO2 emissions, while being impacted the most by the effects of climate change. They must not face the worst of the impacts. 

But a just transition also provides an opportunity to distribute the benefits of good transport connectivity more evenly between, and within regions across the UK. For example, by increasing local accessibility through land-use planning, supporting active travel, and improving local public transport services. 

Throughout their campaign the Transport Planning Society explore and highlight how transport planners, with support from the government, can tackle the socio-economic problems that arise from the transition to a zero-emission network, and the role transport planners will play in planning and delivering this transition. 

In the North East  

Within the North East Transport Plan, future transport plans are laid out which will help us transition to being a green, healthy, dynamic and thriving North East. Air quality is central to the plans – currently it is estimated that poor air quality is responsible for around 360 deaths each year in Central Tyneside alone, and this is something which can be reduced through lowering CO2 emissions in our region.  

We’ve recently finished consulting on our draft Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Strategy which outlines plans for ZEV charging infrastructure across the region, a necessary step in the transition to zero emission vehicles by 2035. 

Read the Transport Planning Society’s blog on the journey from 2030 – 2035 Our journey to 2030 2035 (tps.org.uk) 

Reserve your free spot at their events (hybrid and London based).