2024 was full speed ahead for Western Gateway STB. From hosting our first ever coach forum, to writing a long-term Strategic Transport Plan and getting over 150 sign ups on our Carbon Assessment Playbook, it’s been jam-packed.
Here’s a list of the best bits:
Strategic Transport Plan 2025-2050
The mammoth task of writing a long-term Strategic Transport Plan was achieved last May. The plan involved conversations with our nine authorities and transport partners, multiple monthly meetings, 17 drafts and countless cups of coffee. But the hard work paid off, and the document was finalised in just under six months of (very intensive!) work. The shiny plan identifies the specific transport challenges we face in our region. It looks at tackling rural mobility, connectivity gaps, journey time reliability and the impact of seasonal tourism – to name a few. It sets out the transport ambitions that benefit our region socially, economically and environmentally, improving transport for everyone while lowering the environmental impact.
Over the second half of 2024, we developed our draft Strategic Investment Plan to deliver on the vision of the STP. This is currently out for consultation until 2nd February.
Coach forum
In January, we hosted our first ever South West coach forum. This was also a first in the land of strategic transport bodies – an achievement applauded by the Minister for Transport at the STB conference in March. Our in-person forum at Bristol Aerospace in May saw operators, officers and industry experts from across the region come together to identify key challenges in the industry (and have a peek on board one of the last Concordes while we were there!). The group identified three priority work areas that we are now taking forward.
Our next coach forum will take place in Bath on11th March 2025. If you’d like to come along, drop us an email at westerngatewaystb@westofengland-ca.gov.uk
Carbon Assessment Playbook
In October, we released The Carbon Assessment Playbook, developed by England’s Sub-national Transport Bodies, to help inform the development of our authorities’ local transport plans. Over 150 officers across our nine local authorities signed up to the tool (phew!), showing our commitment to carbon reduction across the region.
Freight
Throughout 2024, we continued to progress on our joint freight project with Peninsula Transport. The year two progress report was published in July, and we hosted many events for the South West freight forum ,which is attended on average by 40+ people from a variety of organisations and departments. Keep an eye out on our website and social media streams to hear about where freight is travelling in 2025.
A growing Western Gateway team
The Western Gateway team grew with the recruitment of Hattie James, our Transport Officer, and Jessica Holroyd, Our Project Officer. And just missing by a week but sliding into January 2025 is Allan Creedy, our new Lead Officer. By building a bigger workforce, we can continue to support our partners and fuel our transport aspirations for the region. We also welcomed three students from the University of Gloucester to carry out internships with us in November, who each brought enthusiasm and support. We hope we can inspire the next generation to work in transport!
Read more about the team here.
Local elections in some of our partner Authorities in May brought some new elected members to the Western Gateway board. We were pleased to welcome Cllr Ed Plowden (Bristol, Green), Cllr Jon Andrews (Dorset, Lib Dem), Cllr Tamara Reay (Wiltshire, Cons) and Cllr Kye Dudd (representing the WEMCA Mayor). We also extend our thanks to past and continuing Board members.
What’s our direction for 2025?
In 2025, our ambitions keep growing. Here are some of our priorities:
SIP
We’ll be finalising our Strategic Investment Plan this year, which will detail investment recommendations for the next 10 years to deliver our collective vision for transport outlined in our Strategic Transport Plan. The Strategic Investment Plan consultation is open until 2nd February. Once the report has been finessed in response to consultation feedback and approved by the Board, the final SIP report will be published late spring 2025.
STB officers will revisit both the STP and SIP later in 2025 to ensure it aligns with emerging Labour Government priorities.
Rural Mobility
We’ll be launching three rural mobility pilots across the region later in Spring. They’ll run for up to 12 months, and will give us useful data and lessons for us on transport in rural areas of the region. Keep an eye out on our social media streams for information on each pilot. We hope to run another call for pilots later in 2025.
Regional Centre of Excellence
As a result of the new government’s proposal to reform the planning system in July 2024 and subsequent update to the housebuilding targets for the Western Gateway region have increased by 34.3% overall, with varying changes in each local planning authority area. Western Gateway STB are committed to supporting our partners in achieving this target in the best possible way. Across 2025, we’ll produce reports and guidance to support local authorities in the region to meet the new housing requirements, with minimal disruption and impact on the region’s transport network.
Electric Vehicles (EV)
We have committed to continuing our work with Peninsula Transport to run the South West EV forums, to monitor and support the work of local authorities and help them make sure infrastructure is in place to meet the future demand. Keep an eye out for the South West EV action plan which will be published soon.
And much more…
Thank you for your ongoing support of everything the Western Gateway STB does. Want to hear more or have any questions? We’re happy to help. Just get in touch at westerngatewaystb@westofengland-ca.gov.uk.
