Author: Emma Moody - Lead Strategy Advisor, Recreation and Sustainable Development, Lake District National Park Authority
So where do we start with our future smarter travel objectives, when there are so many things we could do, things we would like to do and different opinions as to what we should do?
Over a year ago now, in December 2019 the Partnership agreed to set up a task and finish group to work on this challenge in more detail. This includes: who between them have a wide range of experience and knowledge in this area, and plenty of ideas. The group is chaired by Lorrainne Smyth of ACT, who has done an amazing job of bringing us together, even when there are some things we will not always agree on, and challenging us all when she needs to.
Since then we have met 16 times, and circulated and commented on numerous drafts, shared knowledge and experience; the amount of work and thought that so many partners have put in to this is invaluable, and we would like to thank them all.
We decided early on that we needed to prepare a sound evidence base, which included data we have so far such visitor surveys and traffic counts, partners’ current policies and planned work. This also identified where we need to know more, and this is covered in the Research Framework. We used the evidence base to inform our first paper looking at the challenges, issues and opportunities available to us.
This then informed our key challenge paper, and importantly the list of actions, because we are all aware that we want this not just to be a well written and thought out plan, but a plan than leads to change on the ground for local people and visitors.
We started off with a long list of over 50 actions, which we rationalised and ordered through combining through themes under the different ‘tactical objectives’, then did further work to prioritise, knowing that although we would like to, we can’t do everything! To help us prioritise we now have an evaluation of the carbon saving of different actions and which can have the greatest impact.
As well as the partnership Working Group and Forum we have also had online meetings with:
We know we don’t have all the answers, and things are changing fast in these challenging times, but we have worked hard towards developing a plan that all 25 partners can sign up to and be proud of, and that will lead to positive change. We are looking forward to working on the comments and insights we receive in the consultation.
