Climate Column: creating cleaner, quieter and healthier places

Climate Action Stokesley and Villages provide practical tips on how to make a difference.

THE Government’s plan for transport “Decarbonising Transport: A Better, Greener Britain”, published in 2021, looks at how as a country we can create cleaner, quieter, healthier places. The foreword starts with the following: “Transport decarbonization is a dull way of describing something much more exciting and far-reaching. Because transport is not just how you get around. It is something that fundamentally shapes our towns, our cities, our countryside, our living standards, our health, and our whole quality of life. It can shape all these things for good – or for bad.”

The Government has committed to decarbonising all forms of transport through: increasing cycling and walking, zero emission buses and coaches, decarbonising our railways, zero emission fleet of cars, vans, motorcycles, and scooters, accelerating maritime decarbonisation, and accelerating aviation decarbonisation.

Locally in York and North Yorkshire the Local Enterprise Partnership has been consulting on its route map to a carbon negative region looking at how councils, businesses and individuals can help realize the Government’s plan. In our August Climate Column we will look at the route map as it is due to be signed off in July before endorsement by the local authorities.

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One way of creating cleaner, quieter and healthier places is to introduce 20mph zones in towns and villages. The 20s Plenty North Yorkshire group is campaigning for a speed limit of 20mph to be standard on residential streets and in town and village centres, unless full consideration of the needs of vulnerable road users allows a higher limit on particular streets.

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They are contacting all the parish and town councils in the county for support. In May of this year there were at least 115 parish councils supporting the campaign in North Yorkshire and the list is growing. It is a great way of encouraging more people to walk or cycle for short journeys leaving the car at home.

Another way of leaving the car behind is to use the Moorsbus, which runs from July until September on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays. The Moorsbus connects the North York Moors with surrounding areas including routes from Darlington, Northallerton, Redcar and Thirsk. For timetables and fares visit www.moorsbus.org.

Climate Action Stokesley and Villages are working on reducing the use of petrol/diesel vehicles through: Supporting the proposed Endeavor Way between Stokesley and Great Ayton, liaising with bus and train providers to improve services in the area, identifying key multi-user routes that can be made safer for walkers, cyclists, horse riders and users of mobility scooters, promoting car sharing, and encouraging the installation of electric vehicle charging points.

The group are holding a transport themed event ‘The Route Ahead to Sustainable Transport’ on Saturday, July 30, from 10am to 1pm, in and around Stokesley Town Hall. The event will cover the role of public transport, active travel and developments in the local infrastructure. Electric bikes and cars will be on display together with their enthusiastic owners to answer questions.

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