March marks the official start of the Bury Local Links 2018 events calendar as Treatt, in partnership with the Bury Local Links team, hosted a Sustainable Travel Day event at our Northern Way premises to encourage and promote the use of sustainable travel to work.
In January 2018, we committed to actioning a Sustainable Travel Action Plan which outlined a number of bespoke measures designed to raise awareness of sustainable travel and instigate a 10% mode shift away from single car use over the following 12 months.
Part of our agreed Action Plan was to host a dedicated sustainable travel event where staff could receive advice and information on sustainable travel options and alternatives to encourage more staff to walk, cycle, car share, take the train or catch the bus to work.
In line with our staff travel survey findings, which were conducted through Bury Local Links to address the considerable number of staff who expressed an interest in car sharing, Treatt and Bury Local Links carried out a dedicated car share matching exercise prior to the event. Staff were paired up with colleagues who live nearby and have similar working patterns in order to forge long-term car share partnerships. This proved very popular amongst staff, and saw a fantastic result with several new car share partners travelling to work together for the first time.
To mark the event, staff who travelled sustainably to work were greeted with a free breakfast on arrival, alongside dedicated car parking spaces for car sharers.
Following breakfast, staff were also able to benefit from receiving personalised travel information through a dedicated workplace travel clinic run by the Bury Local Links team who were on hand to discuss available travel options, and supply staff with a number of different resources including bespoke cycle maps.
Dean Taylor, Director of Operations at Treatt, commented on the event: “We have been very encouraged by the level of interest and support shown by our colleagues for this event. We are fully committed to promoting all forms of sustainable transport and reducing the overall number of car journeys to and from work each day.”
Sophie May of Suffolk County Council stated: “Suffolk County Council has partnered with Integrated Transport Planning (ITP) Ltd to promote the benefits of sustainable transport to businesses in Bury St Edmunds. Under the Bury Local Links banner, ITP have worked with local businesses to deliver a modal shift away from single occupancy car use.”
Bury Local Links will continue working with Bury St Edmunds businesses over the coming months to run sustainable travel events to promote and encourage sustainable travel.
If you would like more information on the Bury Local Links scheme, please visit www.suffolk.gov.uk/locallinks.