Sustainable Community Strategy - Coventry Partnership

7. Making places and services easily accessible for Coventry people - Our Plans
7a Long-term outcomes
• The need for travel will have reduced as developments for learning and leisure, health services and
shops and employment will have been positioned in convenient places.
• The quality of Coventryʼs local public transport services will have further improved and people will be
more likely to travel in ways that are less damaging to the environment.
7b Short-term priorities
• Plan to make services, including schools, employment, culture and leisure opportunities more locally
accessible and to reduce the need to travel (residents and commuters)
• Reduce car use and encourage people to travel by public transport, on foot and by bicycle, particularly
during peak periods
• Ensure that the transport infrastructure, and especially public transport, is able to cope with planned
growth in the city
• Improve perceptions about safety of travelling by public transport, by bicycle or on foot and maintain the
cityʼs low rates of road traffic accidents
• Reduce CO2 emissions due to transport
7c Some indicators we will use to help us measure success
Congestion average journey time per mile during peak hours; principal and non-principal road
maintenance; access to services and facilities by public transport, walking and cycling; working age people
with access to employment by public transport; local bus journeys starting in Coventry; bus services
running on time; children travelling to school - by mode of travel; air quality
7d Opportunities and challenges of growth
Developing the transport infrastructure will be critical to ensuring that growth benefits local people and that
negative impacts of growth of more people living and working in Coventry are minimised. As well as
planning the infrastructure of roads; footways and cycle paths, we need to plan the location of housing;
employment, schools, shops and leisure facilities to minimise the need for Coventry people to travel,
including reducing commuting to work; and to encourage people to use more sustainable forms of travel -
including walking and cycling. Good road and rail and air transport communications are very important for
Coventryʼs businesses and we need to reduce congestion. The development of the city provides an
opportunity to ensure that road signage is up to date, accurate and attractive.
7e Equality of opportunity; community cohesion and neighbourhoods
People living in Coventryʼs non-priority neighbourhoods are more likely to own and travel by car – car
parking, particularly in the central and older areas of the city is often a problem. We need to ensure that
good, affordable transport is available to Coventry people without cars to support social inclusion and
provide equality of access to employment opportunities and local facilities and services – including those
living in priority areas. It is important to continue to make public transport more accessible to disabled
people and others with specific needs. Transport has been identified as a very important issue for
Coventryʼs older people and is an important factor in maintaining independence – it needs to be good
quality, feel safe and be responsive to demand.
7f Climate change
Transport currently makes up some 28% of Coventryʼs carbon emissions and contributes to poor air quality
in parts of the city. Good future planning and the improvement of public transport and the local environment
will encourage people to walk and cycle. We need to encourage children and young people to walk or cycle
to school as this will have a positive impact on health as well as reducing carbon emissions. Local people
can also be encouraged to invest in green modes of travel such as electric cars. Peopleʼs health will
improve as a result of better air quality.
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