NewcastleGateshead Got In Gear To Welcome The ACT TravelWise Conference & The 2009 Winners Of The Awards
Date submitted: 30 November 2009
Hundreds of sustainable transport professionals arrived in the North East for a two day event to share ideas on how people can get healthy and save cash by choosing environmentally friendly transport.
NewcastleGateshead hosted the event organised by the ACT TravelWise Association, the UK’s leading network for all organisations working to promote sustainable travel. It promotes the benefits of travel planning and develops and markets a wide range of initiatives to provide the public with travel choices.
The event was held at The Sage Gateshead and attracted people from a range of organisations including schools, local authorities and private companies, all keen to find out how they can encourage people to consider healthy travel options.
Neil Scales, Chair of ACT TravelWise, said: “More and more people are choosing to adopt sustainable forms of transport, seeing the benefits that green forms of travel have on both personal finance and health. Employers also recognise the connection between sustainable travel choices, health and productivity and we are working successfully with members to encourage behavioural change through travel planning.”
The conference, which attracted over 250 visitors to NewcastleGateshead was organised in the region by the ACT TravelWise North East Regional group whose main sponsor was the Tyne and Wear Local Transport Plan. Delegates boarded buses to visit a range of local locations, including North Tyneside’s Cobalt Business Park and Gateshead International Stadium, to see examples of regional travel planning success.
Mark Ashall, of Highbridge, developers of Cobalt Park said: “Cobalt is the UK’s largest business park and we place great emphasis on working in partnership with transport operators and other stakeholders to enhance the sustainable travel options available to the almost 10,000 employees based onsite – we enjoyed having the ACT TravelWise delegates and sharing ideas and experiences of travel planning.”
Mr Ashall was among the speakers taking part in a panel debate at the conference along with Wayne Hemingway who was behind the Staiths South Bank project in Gateshead, Dr Gary MacDonald, transport policy manager at Newcastle City Council, James Ramsbotham, chief executive of the North East Chamber of Commerce, Dr Karen Lucas, research fellow at Oxford University and Scarlett Mulligan from the UK Youth Parliament.
The conference also played host to the ACT TravelWise Awards: the most prestigious awards in sustainable transport. This year the award winners and high commended were:
1. Commuter Friendly Workplace of the Year - sponsored by Smarter Choices for Transport in Tyne and Wear.
Overall Winner - West Sussex County Council
Highly Commended
- BT (Adastal Park)
- Smarter Travel Sutton (London Borough of Sutton)
- BSkyB
2.Travel Plan Innovation of the Year - sponsored by iTRACE
Overall Winner - Transport for London - Smarter Travel Unit
Highly Commended
- CycleStreets Ltd
- West Midlands ACT TravelWise Business & Consultants Group
- WESTRANS
3.Marketing Campaign of the Year - sponsored by Local Transport Plan Tyne and Wear
Overall Winner - Smarter Travel Sutton (London Borough of Sutton)
Highly Commended
- Living Streets (Walking Works Campaign)
- South Gloucestershire Council
- West Sussex County Council
4.Travel Planner of the Year - sponsored by MVA Consultancy
Overall Winner - Samira Ahmed BskyB
Highly Commended
- Alex Veitch - ATOC
- Kathryn McLauchlan - Smarter Travel Sutton
- Rebecca Davey B & Q
- Tim Forrester - WESTRANS
5.School Travel Planner of the Year - sponsored by Cobalt
Overall Winner - Julie Potter – Shropshire Council
Highly Commended
- Ian Patrick – West County Council
- Imogen Leonard - Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead
- Julie Ward - London Borough of Redbridge
- .Linda Tromans - Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council
6.TravelWise/European Mobility Week Award
Overall Winner - Dorset County Council
Highly Commended
- City of London
- Smarter Choices - Tyne & Wear
- TravelWise Merseyside
7. Most Improved ACT TravelWise Region of the Year Award
London
8. Outstanding Contribution Award
Sarah Dewar - Formerly of Merseyside Transport Partnership
For further information about the ACT TravelWise Association visit www.acttravelwise.org.
/ends
Ref: relACT1109
Contact
Rhiân Davies
Marketing & Business Manager
ACT TravelWise Association
07 871 287 504
The event was held at The Sage Gateshead and attracted people from a range of organisations including schools, local authorities and private companies, all keen to find out how they can encourage people to consider healthy travel options.
Neil Scales, Chair of ACT TravelWise, said: “More and more people are choosing to adopt sustainable forms of transport, seeing the benefits that green forms of travel have on both personal finance and health. Employers also recognise the connection between sustainable travel choices, health and productivity and we are working successfully with members to encourage behavioural change through travel planning.”
The conference, which attracted over 250 visitors to NewcastleGateshead was organised in the region by the ACT TravelWise North East Regional group whose main sponsor was the Tyne and Wear Local Transport Plan. Delegates boarded buses to visit a range of local locations, including North Tyneside’s Cobalt Business Park and Gateshead International Stadium, to see examples of regional travel planning success.
Mark Ashall, of Highbridge, developers of Cobalt Park said: “Cobalt is the UK’s largest business park and we place great emphasis on working in partnership with transport operators and other stakeholders to enhance the sustainable travel options available to the almost 10,000 employees based onsite – we enjoyed having the ACT TravelWise delegates and sharing ideas and experiences of travel planning.”
Mr Ashall was among the speakers taking part in a panel debate at the conference along with Wayne Hemingway who was behind the Staiths South Bank project in Gateshead, Dr Gary MacDonald, transport policy manager at Newcastle City Council, James Ramsbotham, chief executive of the North East Chamber of Commerce, Dr Karen Lucas, research fellow at Oxford University and Scarlett Mulligan from the UK Youth Parliament.
The conference also played host to the ACT TravelWise Awards: the most prestigious awards in sustainable transport. This year the award winners and high commended were:
1. Commuter Friendly Workplace of the Year - sponsored by Smarter Choices for Transport in Tyne and Wear.
Overall Winner - West Sussex County Council
Highly Commended
- BT (Adastal Park)
- Smarter Travel Sutton (London Borough of Sutton)
- BSkyB
2.Travel Plan Innovation of the Year - sponsored by iTRACE
Overall Winner - Transport for London - Smarter Travel Unit
Highly Commended
- CycleStreets Ltd
- West Midlands ACT TravelWise Business & Consultants Group
- WESTRANS
3.Marketing Campaign of the Year - sponsored by Local Transport Plan Tyne and Wear
Overall Winner - Smarter Travel Sutton (London Borough of Sutton)
Highly Commended
- Living Streets (Walking Works Campaign)
- South Gloucestershire Council
- West Sussex County Council
4.Travel Planner of the Year - sponsored by MVA Consultancy
Overall Winner - Samira Ahmed BskyB
Highly Commended
- Alex Veitch - ATOC
- Kathryn McLauchlan - Smarter Travel Sutton
- Rebecca Davey B & Q
- Tim Forrester - WESTRANS
5.School Travel Planner of the Year - sponsored by Cobalt
Overall Winner - Julie Potter – Shropshire Council
Highly Commended
- Ian Patrick – West County Council
- Imogen Leonard - Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead
- Julie Ward - London Borough of Redbridge
- .Linda Tromans - Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council
6.TravelWise/European Mobility Week Award
Overall Winner - Dorset County Council
Highly Commended
- City of London
- Smarter Choices - Tyne & Wear
- TravelWise Merseyside
7. Most Improved ACT TravelWise Region of the Year Award
London
8. Outstanding Contribution Award
Sarah Dewar - Formerly of Merseyside Transport Partnership
For further information about the ACT TravelWise Association visit www.acttravelwise.org.
/ends
Ref: relACT1109
Contact
Rhiân Davies
Marketing & Business Manager
ACT TravelWise Association
07 871 287 504
