Integrated Public Transport Strategy - Worcestershire County Council

Chapter 1 - Strategic Influences
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Over-arching all of these land use planning issues, is the guidance contained within
Regional Planning Guidance 11 (West Midlands), which influences the development of
both this LTP and the Structure Planning process.
Education
Our education system has a significant part to play in influencing the way in which we
travel. This can be on a number of fronts: -
● Through appropriate planning of
school grounds to ensure they
accommodate sustainable
transport (cycle facilities, lockers,
etc.);
● Through educating pupils on
road safety, and ways to
encourage walking, cycling and
public transport;
● Through promotion of School
Travel Plan initiatives, combining
a mix of engineering and
education measures to bring
about a change in travel
behaviour and;
● Through integrating sustainable
transport initiatives with the
National Curriculum.
Health
The health of our nation is affected by the way in which we travel. Increasing dependence
upon the car has made us less healthy through reduced walking and cycling and
exposure to greater levels of harmful pollutants and it continues to place a high burden
upon the medical services through road traffic accidents. Both the White Paper on
Transport, and the White Paper on Health (1999) recognise the inter-relationships
between transport and the Health of the Nation, and nowhere more so in the area of lack
of opportunity to access a whole range of services, including the NHS, that promote
health. These include child care, employment, education and training and leisure
opportunities.
These relationships are vital because of the two important links:-
● Encouraging walking, cycling and the use of public transport to assist in the aims of
health promotion and in improving health and fitness among the population.
● The significant transport implications in respect of accessing health facilities and
services.
It is therefore vital that we integrate our policies on transport and health to ensure that the
County promotes a healthy living environment. This LTP has been developed through a
partnership working with the Health Authority, and as an example, we are already using
the skills of school nurses to monitor the effectiveness of School Travel Plan initiatives,
and to feed back improvements into the design process.