City of Stoke-on-Trent Local Transport Plan 3 Focus Groups

AECOM <strong>City</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Stoke</strong>-on-Trent Local Transport Plan 3 25Capabilities on project:Transportation3.4.2 Older PeopleParticipants in the older / disability group sorted the 17 policiesinto four groups: business; community; environment; andhealth.- Policies within the ‘business’ group related to inwardinvestment and the support <strong>of</strong> businesses and the visitoreconomy.- The ‘community’ group included policies that related to thelabour pool, education and training and regeneration.- The ‘environment’ group contained policies that related tocarbon emissions, air pollution and reducing the reliance onoil-based transport.- Policies in the ‘health’ group referred to reducing obesityand deaths associated with transport as well as improvingaccess to health care.Participants within the older people group thought that althoughhealth was important, it was already quite good within <strong>Stoke</strong>on-Trent.One problem that was mentioned however, was thelack <strong>of</strong> parking spaces at health care facilities.“You can’t do much without health, can you?”“No, you can’t but I find for the area we’re in, we havegot a very good health service system at the hospital,yes, they’ve got their faults but I don’t think they’re thatbad.”“You just can’t get parking spaces.”“Well, you can die while you’re running round thehospital trying to find somewhere.”The ‘community’ group was felt to be <strong>of</strong> greatest importancefollowed by the ‘business’ and ‘health’ groups. The‘environment’ group was thought to be <strong>of</strong> least importance.The policies deemed to be most important in each group were:- Support existing businesses in maintaining their productivity(Business)- Tackle the high numbers <strong>of</strong> people in ill health and/orclaiming incapacity benefits (Health)- Improve the internal environment through ‘place’ schemeswhich manage traffic and enhance pedestrian movements(Environmental)The policies within the community group were all felt to be <strong>of</strong>equal importance. A full list <strong>of</strong> the policies by group can beseen in Table 3.2. Participants felt that all <strong>of</strong> the policiesneeded to be implemented within five years with the exception<strong>of</strong> the environmental policies. The group felt that one <strong>of</strong> themost important issues for the LPT3 should be access toeducation and jobs along with the regeneration <strong>of</strong> the area.“That, increase the labour pool and increase the area inwhich the population realistically work is a cracker inthis area. People won’t go any further than probably amile and a half.”“First <strong>of</strong> all we need work in the area, that’s the mainthing, I think, make sure with the education.”“They tend to build out, don’t they and extend andextend but leave the rotten core in the middle, that’swhat I think <strong>of</strong> <strong>Stoke</strong> [-on-Tent]. They’ve got lovelyplaces but then you get into the centre and it’s like abad apple.”