Meeting:  The future of travel in Kirklees

Professor Greg Marsden (University of Leeds) gave an absorbing address on the future of travel in Kirklees. 

Rather than focussing on autonomous vehicles or flying cars, he drew attention to the important changes on-going in society which have reduced the amount that people are travelling.

Per head of population, driving has reduced by 11% since 2005 and in particular in under 30s and in the most wealthy groups in society.

It is true for all categories of journey from commuting to leisure with only the trip to school staying more or less the same.

This comes as a bit of shock when one sees the on-going congestion problems. However, these result more from a concentration of population growth along already busy corridors, more people but generally travelling less.

Not only are the trends surprising, but they are also a positive factor in the agenda to decarbonise transport and perhaps point the direction to further change.

He turned his attention to what the data on travel patterns might mean in Kirklees, noting that this would mean different things in different places:
​

• The centre of Huddersfield is bounded by a 1970s inner-ring road which is very car dominated. To revitalise the city centre and grow the housing and retail vitality will require a rebalancing to pedestrians and cycle infrastructure.
• The public transport opportunities to serve more rural communities are limited. Decarbonisation here might need to prioritise electrification and a new approach to car sharing and demand-responsive public transport.
• The differences in behaviour and needs of different age groups are really significant. A diversity of options will be important if decarbonisation is to be part of everyone’s futures.

While it was evident that the on-going shifts in travel behaviour have not yet been grasped as an opportunity for change, the potential to capitalise on them will vary depending on what land is made available for future population and employment growth.

This again varies across place although Huddersfield, like most towns and cities is facing a challenging retail environment and could take a lead on shifting over to housing-led revitalisation of the city centre.

This puts people in places with great accessibility by public transport and that remains central to people’s capacity to live less car dependent lifestyles. In a very lively discussion of the presentation it was clear that, at the heart of a vision for a less car dependent Kirklees, comes the need for a clear vision for the sort of place citizens wanted to live in.