Travelling projects
Geographically, as the UK’s toe, dipping into the Atlantic, Cornwall is out on a limb. Physically, it’s a long way to anywhere - and even further from the Isles of Scilly.
But ‘travel’ is, of course, no longer necessarily about movement. It’s about – a dull word for a bright concept - ‘connectivity’. One of the major triumphs of the European Union’s Objective One Programme was to shrink the globe and make nonsense of geography, drawing Tokyo as close as Truro.
Nobody had believed that broadband could be rolled out effectively in such a rural area – yet the programme’s actnow initiative achieved 99 per cent coverage and encouraged more than half of businesses in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly to log on and compete online, from creative and new media firms to farmers and fishermen.
It has been a phenomenal success, since adopted as a model elsewhere in Europe, and the follow-on Convergence Programme plans to maintain Cornwall’s competitiveness by assisting with the upgrade to enhanced next generation higher-speed broadband. Mark Yeoman, Deputy Director of the Convergence Partnership, says: “The immediacy of the internet has changed the way we conduct long distance relationships. It has made our world view and our view of ourselves very different. It is putting Cornwall back at the centre of the world, rather than feeling we are on the edge of it.”
In the conventional world of travel, Cornwall is facing some unique challenges in meeting national aspirations for an environmentally sustainable low-carbon economy. Because it’s a place of relatively small scattered towns and villages strung down a long peninsula, people have, on average, further to travel to work than those living elsewhere in the UK and – with a patchy bus network - nearly two thirds of them go by car.
The number of vehicles in Cornwall has shot up by 66 per cent in twenty years. Congestion is increasing – particularly, of course, in the summer when most of the five million visitors arrive, some 3.5 million of them on four wheels. The Eden Project enthusiastically promotes more sustainable travel on foot, by cycle, by public transport, by car sharing – yet realistically has to provide large areas of parking to match demand.
The A30 bypass around Goss Moor has helped traffic flow along Cornwall’s spine, but as the Government notes in its 2008 report, ‘Delivering a Sustainable Transport System’, planning for the future will involve not only infrastructure improvements but also innovation and changes in behaviour.
Part of the answer has been identified in attempting to redress the massive shift from public transport to private cars. Nationally, in 1952 60 per cent of journeys were by bus and rail, and just 27 per cent in cars. Less than 50 years later, only 11 per cent of us used public transport, while 87 per cent used cars.
Travel by rail into and within Cornwall grew significantly in the decade to 2005 – but it still accounted for only four per cent of passenger trips within the place.
Objective One has invested in the upgrade of a bottleneck single track section to dual track on the London to Penzance mainline railway, reducing delays and improving journey times. The Convergence Programme helped pay for engineering work on the Truro to Falmouth branch line which has doubled capacity, making it a far more attractive option for commuters and visitors, reducing road congestion.
The continuing expansion of Newquay Airport is regarded by business and tourism leaders as a vital element in Cornwall’s regeneration, providing growing economic benefits with the potential of handling more than a million passengers a year within the next two decades.
Objective One also helped pay for enhancements to the fishing facilities of our ports and harbours, which are likely to play an increasingly important transportation role in the future. Plans are being laid for the development of Falmouth Docks, and for major improvements to the sea connection with the Isles of Scilly.
Technology will provide further solutions. The 2009 National Low Carbon Transport Strategy promoted a green motoring transformation – and in particular, the development of electric cars.
Other answers are likely to emerge from a network of smaller responses. For instance, a number of schools are developing ‘walking buses’, cycle training and car share plans to support sustainable travel across Cornwall. Park and Ride and Park and Float facilities are helping to reduce congestion in Truro and Falmouth respectively. Many enterprises are increasingly encouraging home-working.
However, ultimately, most change will only happen if the alternatives to using the car are designed to be practical, accessible, engaging and attractive…and people designed into the public spaces currently dominated by traffic.
What transport solutions could make Cornwall greener? From car clubs to cycle lanes, Dott’s Move Me has developped innovative ways to tackle congestion and reduce environmental pollution.
