The children of the revolution

Sally Herbert is acting as lead organiser for the 2009 ACT TravelWise Autumn Conference and plans to sing her message out loud and clear at the event: children are our future. MindsinMotion tracked her down to find out what that future has in store.

ACT Travelwise is an association that promotes sustainable travel, particularly through the implementation of 'Travel Plans' at schools and businesses. The plans encourage cycling, car-sharing schemes, dedicated bus services, restricted car parking facilities and other ways of removing more cars from the road. ACT operates two conferences every year, one in London and one in the regions.

Head to Newcastle
Sally works as a travel plan officer for the Newcastle City Council. Keen to showcase all the work that the council has done over the years to organise mobility projects and increase public awareness, she entered into discussions with ACT Travelwise. She says they did not need much persuading to head to Newcastle.

“There are around seventy organisations in Newcastle that have implemented travel plans. Newcastle City Council has also brought car clubs to the region and is the first city to have gone into a formal partnership with a car club operator,” Sally explains.

The council has entered into a seven-year contract with Durham-based Option C for a car club operation to reduce vehicle ownership across the city. The club allows residents, businesses and students to have access to a car in their city without having to own one. They pay an annual fee and then are charged by the hour and mile for each trip they make.

Shape the future
This helps tackle the problem of here and now, but what about the future?

Sally says the key to ensuring children do not grow up to be gas-guzzling car owners is effective marketing and being able to sell the benefits of sustainable travel in a way they understand, which is exactly what she has planned for the conference.

Teach and be taught
The conference is structured in a way that it focuses both on schools and workplaces, and on the second day young people will be heavily catered for.

“We have a drama production put together by a young theatre club in Newcastle, while a representative of the Young Peoples Parliament will be on hand to explain the political side of things,” she says.

Sally adds that it is not all about lecturing children and telling them what they should and shouldn’t be doing.

“We want to give them the opportunity to talk to us at the conference. We will be promoting it to all the schools in the region to get the kids involved,” she says.

The conference programme will also include an optional site visit to Beacon Hill School, which has established a successful travel plan to improve the fitness of pupils, promote sustainable transport and make the school site safer for students.

Showcasing
Sally believes travel planning has come a long way since it came to England in the 1990s, but in terms of demonstrating this, the country as a whole could have done better.

“Conferences such as this are a way of showcasing the work that has been done. We can show people the effective results on a small and on a large scale. It is our role to inform people and influence the future,” she says.