East Midlands Region
Introduction to the East Midlands (EM) Region:
The region covers the County Highway and Public Transport Authority areas of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire, with the unitary authorities of Derby, Leicester, Nottingham and Rutland and the Peak Park Authority.
The EM is a large region characterised by a wide range of contrasting environmental, social and economic conditions in urban, rural, upland and coastal areas. With a population of around 4.2 million, it has a distinctive polycentric settlement structure, based on the three major cities of Derby, Leicester and Nottingham and the regional centres of Lincoln and Northampton. Just under 40% of the population lives in attractive market towns and villages of less than 10,000 so the East Midlands counts as one of the more rural regions in England.
As in other regions, pressure is growing on transport infrastructure as travel demand increases. Its central location encourages freight traffic, and private car borne travel to work, to school and to shopping and leisure is increasing. Traffic in cities, suburbs and rural areas and around tourism and sporting venues is frequently congested and additional investment is required in rail and bus services and to improve the traffic efficiency and safety of the existing highway and cycle networks.
Regional Member Meetings – 2011
A comprehensive list of regional meetings, seminars and workshops will be published early in the year.
Recent Regional News:
* Recent ( 5th November and the 3rd December 2010) Lunch and Lectures at Loughborough University series were very well received, in particular ‘Making Travel Plans Mainstream’, ‘Roles and perspectives of the Transport Policy Community at the UK level’, and ‘Airport Planning’ lectures.
* A day seminar in Cambridge (on the 1st December 2010) on ‘Local Travel
Plan Networks workshop: practical lessons in developing area- based Travel
Plans.’
* Regional meeting chaired by Bal Minhas (held on 15th December) covering a range of issues including: regional updates on sustainable travel, summary of proposed Travel Plan guidance for the regional ‘6C/HTD guide’, feedback from the last ActTravelwise seminar/AGM, current status of salary sacrifice schemes, implications of the corporate spending review, best practices, proposed car club set to operate in Leicester City Centre, ongoing success and future promotion of ‘Leicestershare’ etc.
* A seminar provided by ‘Electronmedia’ (chaired by Bal Minhas and held at Leicester City Council in November) highlighting web /video/ DVD production innovations and opportunities.
Aims and objectives of ACT TravelWise’s East Midlands representative and covenor:
Bal Minhas, Leicester City Council's Travel Plan Officer and ‘Leicestershare’ coordinator, is the regional representative and convenor for Act Travelwise. Bal has stated his priorities will be to:
1) bring up to date the regional mailing list,
2) draft a programme of regional events, which will not only be of interest to members but subsidiary third parties (including business of commerce, planning forums, transport stakeholders etc), draw up a casebook highlighting regional members 'good news' stories, provide information of potential funding opportunities for members (and discounts for sustainable travel related products), provide a list of seminars and workshops suitable for members, and highlight initiatives they have successfully carried out on a 'shoe string' budget (which is very relevant in the present time).
Bal intends to hold more events/regional meetings in the various East Midlands regions, so as to attract more and more organisations to the fold. If any business/consultancy/forums want to highlight and suggest ideas, have any queries or want to share good news stories, contact Bal on bal.minhas@leicester.gov.uk or via tel: 0116 2526523.
3) to supply HQ, from time to time, with material for the web magazine, local policy strategy/amendments and EM Region's page on the ATWA Website, including changes to personnel in the member organisations.
Contact Details:
Current EM Regional Rep - Bal Minhas, Travel Plans Officer, Leicester City Council, 6th Floor, A Block, New Walk Centre, Welford Place, Leicester. LE1 6ZG Phone: 0116 2526523 or email bal.minhas@leicester.gov.uk
Key Documents:
East Midlands Regional Transport Strategy presented as Section 3.4 of the "East Midlands Regional Plan" published 12th March 2009 available at www.gos.gov.uk/497296/docs/229865/East_Midlands_Regional_Plan2.pdf
"The Regional Transport Strategy (RTS) contains policies and proposals to help deliver the Spatial Strategy and contribute to other regional and sub-regional priorities. The RTS aims to reduce the need to travel and the rate of traffic growth and to promote a step change in the quantity and quality of public transport. It only promotes additional highway capacity when all other options have been exhausted. The RTS has been informed by the regional process to determine infrastructure priorities up to 2016."
