Diary of a Development Engineer
Diary of a Development Engineer (Travel Plans & Growth)Gerri Davies
Northamptonshire County Council
Monday
09.00 - 17.30 IT Travel Centre Web development workshop with our own IT department and their partners, who have been commissioned to develop a website for our travel centre project. Northamptonshire is targeted to have extra 120,000-160,000 dwellings built over the next twenty-five years. In order to help manage the additional transport demand we are working with the housing developers on a project that will see us, and others, working to deliver travel plans and relevant initiatives. The website for the project will be available and marketed to all new residents and will hold a vast array of information on all aspects of transport and the services provided by the travel centre. Expecting the meeting to be an hour at the most, I finally said goodbye at 5.30pm. I had not allowed for the intricacies that creating a web site of this size would bring, particularly when being delivered as a government body.
Note to self: Do not attempt career move into the world of IT.
Tuesday
Morning: email catch-up. Team meeting. It is announced that as part of our "restructure" there is another vacancy freeze! Meeting with Fused, the marketing company I am working with in order to create the branding and marketing plan for the travel centres.
Afternoon - Catch up on telephone messages & emails. Spoke to two consultants acting on behalf of developers on what they need to do to create an acceptable travel plan and no, no, no, the targets are not negotiable. Spoke to an office manager who had been tasked with completing the travel plan for their company and explained (nicely and calmly of course), that it might require a little more effort than half a page of A4 , and that no, the answer isn't to create more parking spaces (but points for trying).
Wednesday
Morning - Meeting with Corby Borough Council planning dept. to get them on board with regards to the travel centre project. Site visit to Little Stanion housing development; take photos for Fused so they can design information boards. Walk the proposed cycle route from the site to what will be the train station.
Afternoon - tele-messages & emails, emails, emails. Establish date for survey for Moulton Parks Area wide travel plan project. Update project plan for Travel Centres and prepare reports for Performance Monitoring. Spoke to very helpful lady at English Partnerships about when the community centre will open on one of their sites. Visit Upton and St Crispin Developments to establish opportunities for promoting Travel Centres.
Thursday
Morning - Review design guide for the web site design & get second opinion on price quoted. Response sent with queries.
Afternoon - reviewed the findings of the focus groups and surveys conducted as part of the DfT Demonstration project, which show positive responses with regards to travel centres, but a high proportion of car users within the town centre development. Audit one of eight travel plans, which have been submitted as part of their planning permission. Wrangle with a consultant over a £200 cost... the phone call probably cost their client that! I don't work Fridays and it's obvious I'm not going to get everything done. Therefore laptop is coming home with me and so are a couple of travel plans.
