Published Tuesday 8 November 2022 at 17:25
Moving on to the second key theme, this week the People’s Jury looked at Transport in Blackburn with Darwen, alongside other examples from across Europe, before creating their own aspirational transport maps.
The session began with a presentation from Professor John Whitelegg, senior research fellow at the Foundation for Integrated Transport, who discussed positive examples of transport infrastructure and decision making across Europe.
Next, the Jury heard from Melanie Taylor, Senior Transport Planner at Blackburn with Darwen Council. Melanie shared information about the current network of public and active transport in Blackburn with Darwen and what plans are to improve these services within the near future.
Finally, the Commercial Director of TransDev, Paul Taylor, gave a short presentation. TransDev are the main provider of bus journeys within and travelling into Blackburn with Darwen, so he was able to offer specific insight into this mode of public transport, as well as some of the decision making on timetables and routes (skip to 13:24).
Following some Q&As with the speakers, the Jury members then broke off into small groups and created aspirational transport maps, with their visions for the future of sustainable transport in Blackburn with Darwen.
Each group presented their thoughts at the end of the session. Some of the suggestions included: a ‘one-day’ ticket for all modes of public transport, safer cycle routes, taxi sharing services, more secure bike storage, encouraging businesses to support work-from-home and improving the user experience of buses.
Jury members will meet for 30 hours between September and December 2022, with the task of forming a set of recommendations on what organisations and residents across the borough could be doing to help tackle the issue of climate change.
An Oversight Panel made up of local stakeholders and partners, including organisations such as UCLan, Community CVS, Youth Zone and the Lancashire Council of Mosques, has also been assembled to ensure a fair and rigorous process is maintained and that local partners have a role within this journey too. View all Oversight Panel members here.
The new People’s Jury is part of Blackburn with Darwen Council’s climate action plan, with the aims that it will drive local investment in the work and ensure residents and organisations are very much part of this journey.
The sessions are being facilitated and run by Shared Future CIC, one of the UK’s leading experts in organising People’s Juries.
Initially, more than 6000 letters were sent out to randomly selected households in the borough inviting them to register to take part in the jury.
Those who applied were subject to a thorough selection process to ensure there’s a diverse range of people – with 32 members reflecting the local population of Blackburn with Darwen in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, where people live and attitude to climate change.
Follow the latest updates from each session on The Shuttle.