News

Businesses and schools throughout Poole are being given a helping hand to reduce congestion and develop healthier ways to travel with help from the Borough of Poole.

Poole’s new Travel Plan Co-ordinators, Nick Ellis and Laura Hirst, will be developing travel plans with Poole’s schools and businesses to help measure, target and reduce the impact of travel and transport on the environment. Tailored to individual sites, the plans will help employees and pupils and promote greener cleaner travel choices, reducing reliance on the car.

Working with school teachers, pupils and parents, Nick Ellis, School Travel Plans Co-ordinator, will be listening to their travel concerns and developing solutions to create safe and healthy ways of getting to school. Nick’s role will include designing safe routes to school, resolve car parking problems, setting up car share schemes and encouraging greener and healthier ways of travelling, such as walking and cycling.

Nick, said: "I’m looking forward to working with schools throughout Poole to show that it is possible to travel to school in a sustainable way, safely and healthily, without needing to use the car at all times. Everybody can consider walking, cycling and getting the bus to school."

Anyone who would like to make suggestions about solving problems outside your child’s school can contact Nick Ellis, tel. 01202 262017, or write to Transportation Services St John’s House Serpentine Road Poole BH15 2DX, or Email: n.ellis@poole.gov.uk.

Laura Hirst, Business Travel Plans Co-ordinator, will be liasing with businesses in Poole to develop initiatives aimed at encouraging more environmentally sustainable travel habits. Laura’s main aims are to progress and monitor travel plans already in place and work with businesses who have expressed an interest in developing travel plans. Laura will also be developing a local Wessex Commuter Club so that employees from a number of organisations in Poole can share their travel plan experiences.

Laura, said: "It makes good business sense for local businesses to develop their own travel plans. The plans make a big difference - helping staff get to work, helping the environment and reducing congestion. I’m really pleased to see that several organisations in the area have taken the lead in developing travel plans and look forward to see how they are working."