Transport Conference
12^th November 2019, 9am - 5pm
Castle Green Hotel, Kendal, Cumbria

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Overview

How people travel is changing.

Some places have cracked visitor travel.  These are places in the UK and across the world where really good visitor experiences go hand in hand with sustainable access.  Where congestion just doesn’t figure, residents can get about easily and business flourishes.

This conference digs deep into these ideas to help change the conversation about how we look at transport and accessibility in rural areas with high visitor numbers.

We have brought together a number of experts from the UK and Europe as well as those with intimate knowledge of the transport situation in Cumbria. They will explore how a meaningful reduction in congestion and traffic in the Lake District National Park could be successfully achieved in the face of a significant growth in predicted visitor numbers over the next 15 years.

Aims of the conference

The aim of the conference is to identify ways to reduce impacts of traffic on landscapes and environment, making for better quality visitor experiences, improving quality of life for residents, reducing pollution and carbon emissions and nurturing local prosperity.  ‘Business as usual’ is no longer an option, a step change in the way people travel is coming.  This conference aims to help catalyse this step change by bringing together people with ideas and organisations with the ability to facilitate these necessary changes.

Follow Tweets about the conference using the hashtag #LakesTransportConf and our Twitter handle @FriendsOfLakes

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Image: Great Langdale, 1960s

• Professor Jillian Anable Chair in Transport and Energy at the University of Leeds. Jillian's particular interests include the future of transport and the psychology behind transport choices
• Beth Hiblin an expert in Travel Behaviour Change who has worked with the Lake District National Park Authority and co-authored the Department for Transport evaluation of the Local Sustainable Transport Fund
• Karmen Mentil Director of the Alpine Pearls; a network of tourism destinations in the Alps which work together for the development and marketing of “green travels”. This includes sustainable journey logistics as well as gentle mobility at the holiday destination.
• Ruth Bradshaw from the Campaign for National Parks who authored an authoritative report on Sustainable Transport in National Parks in England and Wales.

• Lorrainne Smyth of ACTion With Communities in Cumbria
• Emma Moody Sustainable Transport Officer at the Lake District National Park
• Nick Lancaster of Langdale and Brimstone Hotels
• Julian Whittle from Cumbria Chamber of Commerce
• Robert McCracken QC
• Jeremy Barlow and Tom Burditt from the National Trust, and
• Alistair Kirkbride, a Cumbrian-based sustainable transport consultant.

Conference Day Outline

The conference will comprise three sessions and a workshop.  

1. All change?

How people choose to travel is changing. How does this translate into new opportunities for traffic reduction?

Professor Jillian Anable (Leeds University) will outline these trends so that we can start to understand how visitors will behave in the future. Beth Hiblin (Smarter Choice Consultancy) will summarise the outcomes from the Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF) investment programmes in transport in National Parks and look at how we can balance ambition and pragmatism from the LSTF investment programmes in transport in national parks.

2. Consensus or difference?

There is a wide variety of needs and perspectives around transport and access issues in the Lake District

This session invites five people based in Cumbria to illustrate their organisation’s point of view. This will not only highlight differences, but also the extent to which there is, or could be, consensus over future priorities for transport and access in the Lake District

3. Wow, look at that!

A look at what the future could be.

Many of us have either experienced or are aware of places where accessing and getting around works really well, often where “car irrelevance” is part of the experience.

Ruth Bradshaw will provide context from the Campaign for National Parks' 2018 work on Transport in National Parks in England and Wales. Karmen Mentil will not only describe Werfenweng (a car free valley in the Austrian Alps), but outline the story behind the transition from the valley’s traffic problems which sparked the change to the current popularity and success of Werfenweng’s no car policy. She will also draw from other great case studies from the Alpine Pearls “Sustainable destinations” across the Alps.

Lunch for conference attendees will be provided.

Post conference: Conference Proceedings publication

The speakers will provide us with their papers and presentations.  These will be written up along with the outputs of the workshops and questions and answer sessions as a Conference Proceedings which will be published after the conference. 

Copies of the Conference Proceedings for those unable to attend

If you are unable to attend but would like a copy of the Conference Proceedings when published, please email [email protected].

We are making a small charge for the conference to cover some of the costs of organising the conference. £15 for individuals and small organisations (e.g. charities, NGOs and Community Interest Companies) and £40 for businesses and statutory bodies.

Please note the conference is aimed at those with a professional interest in transport in the Lake District. 

Book a place – this will take you through to conference registration.

We are grateful to conference sponsors Cicerone Books.

From the Lake District to Ladakh, nearly 400 guidebooks, ebooks and routes to the world’s best walks and treks, mountains and cycle routes. www.cicerone.co.uk