TPS has been working as the Travel Plan Coordinator at Calder Park, a large and expanding mixed use employment site near Wakefield, since 2015. Like many out of town business parks, located on a motorway junction, many occupiers across the site experience issues with the allocation and management of parking spaces, providing a key driver behind the need to promote and facilitate travel by sustainable modes.
In response to these challenges, and to fulfil planning related travel plan requirements, or team have developed and implemented a range of initiatives, helping to reduce parking demands in the first instance (through the promotion of sustainable alternatives to the car), and subsequently to manage and accommodate the parking demands which inevitably remain.
As an initial step, we developed a travel information website and travel guide for the benefit of occupiers and employees, held ‘Travel Surgery’ drop in events to assist those wishing to travel by more sustainable means and undertook a site-wide employee baseline travel survey.
Our team worked with occupiers to establish the ‘Calder Park community’, which saw our remit extend beyond traditional travel planning activities; this has seen us chair regular occupier meetings, which have enabled us to successfully engage with a larger number of businesses as well as key stakeholders, including the Council’s Economic Growth team and Arriva.
In order to improve the sites accessibility we were delighted to secure the diversion of an existing bus service through the Park in the peak periods (at no cost to the developer or occupiers) based on a comprehensive survey we undertook. We worked with Arriva to launch the service in May 2017 at a high-profile event, where we toured businesses with information about the service, ticketing deals and free pizza!
Alongside this, we have worked with Virgin East Coast, which manages Wakefield Westgate station, to set up a ‘reverse Park & Ride’, whereby businesses with parking capacity issues can rent spaces at the station at a reduced rate and then employees can catch the aforementioned bus service to Calder Park. Arriva has set up a bespoke ‘Park and Ride’ ticket, to complement the off-site parking. Collectively, businesses have taken up around 150 spaces at the station, with the scheme becoming operational in Autumn 2017.