Transport and Planning webinar
FIT held the latest in its series of webinars on Tuesday 10th September on the topic of transport and planning.
Watch the webinar here
Context
Transport planning is inextricably linked to housing targets and landuse planning, therefore any changes to the planning system and/or housing targets has implications for transport. The deregulation and constant undermining of the planning system over the last few years has had many negative unintended consequences, including some of the worst urban sprawl in Europe and increased car dependency. With a new government in place intent on reforming the planning system and reintroducing housing targets, how can we do this without increasing car dependency and ensuring that new developments are planned around sustainable travel? This webinar discussed the issues with the current system for transport and planning and how we can plan more sustainably.
This is one of a series of webinars showcasing the work funded by the Foundation for Integrated Transport, and included presentations from FIT grantees Create Streets and the Oxfordshire Roads Action Alliance, together with a panellist from Transport for New Homes.
Speakers:
David Milner – Managing Director, Create Streets
David Milner MEng is the Managing Director at Create Streets and is currently leading on a wide range of strategic advice, master-planning, transport, and street design projects. David has a passion in how movement and urban design interacts with a view to tackling the climate emergency, having authored papers such as The Bin Lorry Effect, Computer Says Road and Stepping Off the Road to Nowhere. Previously David worked for six years as a helicopter pilot in the Royal Air Force. David has a Master of Engineering from Oxford University, sits on the design review panel for Somerset Council and has lectured on design at Oxford University. He is a member of the Academy of Urbanism.
Chris Church – Co-chair, Oxfordshire Roads Action Alliance
Chris Church is co-chair of the Oxfordshire Roads Action Alliance that is opposing a major new road scheme that would be funded by Housing Infrastructure Fund money. He has worked for 40 years on environmental issues – one of his first voluntary roles was in the successful 1980s campaign to stop the M40 motorway going across Otmoor near Oxford. He is Director of Community Environment Associates (CEA), specialising in work linking global and local issues. Chris worked for Friends of the Earth until 1990 and later was a Director and Trustee from 2014-2020. He has worked on many transport issues, including Don’t Choke Britain, the first Save the Travelcard campaign in 1994, the ‘We Don’t Drive’ initiative, and the successful campaign against the Oxford-Cambridge Expressway. He is a Trustee of the Oxford Civic Society and a parish councillor in Botley on the edge of Oxford.
Panellist:
Jenny Raggett – Director and Founder, Transport for New Homes
Jenny has a background as a technical author working in computer research and development but has also been a campaigner for sustainable transport and better planning for many years. She founded the non-profit campaign organisation, Transport for New Homes with funding from FIT in 2017 to highlight the problems of sprawling housing estates built around the car. She has commissioned and researched several reports for Transport for New Homes which involved visiting a wide variety of new housing developments, interviewing residents and gathering planning and transport data. The results identified the deficiencies in planning new homes in relation to public transport, walkability and access. Jenny is a former Trustee of FIT.
Chair:
Ralph Smyth, FIT Trustee
Ralph Smyth is a freelance consultant and mediator, as well as trustee of FIT. Previously, head of infrastructure and legal at CPRE, the countryside charity, he led its work integrating transport with planning, securing changes to national policy and guidance as well as public, hybrid and private bills relating to transport. Ralph also helped secure the creation of design panels for High Speed 2 and National Highways, sitting on the latter and making the case for inter-disciplinary, integrated and sustainable design. Before then he practised as a barrister in the Temple, where he had a wide experience of planning, including at planning inquiries, examinations in public and parliamentary processes. His work also covered housing and homeless law, frequently representing clients without adequate or any housing.