26 June 2019
Board members of Peninsula Transport will hear at their meeting on Wednesday 3 July about five themes which have emerged from the work done so far to identify the strategic transport and connectivity issues in the Peninsula.
Consultants, AECOM, were commissioned in March to develop an Economic Connectivity Study for the Peninsula. The Department for Transport (DfT) recommends that Sub National Transport Boards develop this strategic focus on the key transport and connectivity issues.
The study seeks to understand how major trends in technology, climate policy and transport behaviour may play out within the Peninsula, as well as exploring more locally specific factors such as tourism, resilience of key arterial routes, high quality environments and changes to local demography.
Cllr Geoff Brown, Chair of Peninsula Transport and Portfolio Holder for Transport at Cornwall Council said: “We are in a period of unprecedented change in transport so it’s absolutely essential we don’t view this as business as usual. We need to be thinking about how transport will transform over the coming years, what effects this could have on our region’s economy and the opportunities this will present. That way we’re better equipped to prosper in changing world.”
The study has so far identified five emerging themes:
- Technology disruptors including self-driving vehicles, transport apps which help people to be more mobile and more established trends such as the growth of online retail.
- Urbanisation or changes in how people use transport across the Peninsula.
- World of work, understanding how structural economic trends such as changes in consumer behaviour and technological developments are changing the business sectors, the mix of occupations and how this plays out against our regional specialisms in such areas as defence and marine, digital and clean energy as well as agri-food and the tourism sectors.
- Flexible lifestyles where people are increasingly working from home or in less structured ways such as the ‘gig economy’ the Peninsula can capitalise on digital connectivity to attract high value businesses
- Decarbonisation where binding targets drive changes in vehicles the Peninsula could help avoid future switching costs for residents and businesses by planning for example for electric vehicles.
The next steps for the study will be to use a number of scenarios to assess the impact of these trends on the transport network and the need for investment which can then inform the strategy for the Peninsula.