Accelerating better and more sustainable transport connections for the East is the focus for regional Transport Summit
Senior figures from the region and nationally gathered to accelerate progress on the East’s strategic transport priorities at our annual Transport Summit, which took place in Ipswich.
Transport East’s Annual Summit brought together local and national government along with partners to lead the conversation on key challenges and opportunities around:
- Rural Mobility in the East: Understanding the challenges of sustainable rural journeys and the development of a Centre of Excellence on Rural Mobility.
- Connecting Growing Places: Exploring the low-carbon transport solutions needed for thriving towns and cities.
- Unlocking International Gateways: Discussing the opportunities to sustainably strengthen our role in the international movement of goods and people.
In addition, delegates heard from the Department for Transport, National Highways and GBRTT about the future direction of transport policy and delivery from national bodies.
The Summit provided us with a perfect opportunity to launch our Transport Strategy, the first regional transport strategy for the East. Our Strategy has been developed with partner organisations across the east and champions a vision of a thriving Eastern region with safe, efficient and net-zero transport networks, and advancing the future of inclusive and sustainable growth for decades to come.
The strategy sets out exactly how this is going to be achieved over the next 30 years with a set of priorities unique to our region: Creating a net zero carbon transport network, connecting our growing towns and cities, energising our coastal and rural communities, and unlocking our global gateways.
The Transport East Transport Strategy will be submitted to the Department for Transport this autumn following official endorsement from the region’s five local transport authorities.
The event also hosted a marketplace of sustainable transport solutions, where delegates had the opportunity to explore the potential benefits of active travel schemes, including e-bike, e-scooter and cargo bike hire schemes and witness a demonstration of innovative drone delivery services.
We’d like to thank everyone who attended the Summit, and we cannot wait to continue the fantastic work with our partners to create a greener, more prosperous, and better-connected east.
Presentations and table discussion feedback from the day can be found by clicking on the links below:
Transport Strategy: Andrew Summers, Strategic Director for Transport East
A people focused approach to understanding future travel – Arup, Matt Chilvers and Nick Beck
Regional Partnership and Delivery: Andy Rhind, DfT
National Direction: Richard Leonard, Highways England
Great British Railways Transition Team: Tom Ketteringham
University of Hertfordshire, Smart Mobility Unit: Dr Scott Copsey
Table discussion on Rural and Urban connectivity feedback
Skyports: drone delivery services
You can check out some of the photos taken from the event in our Transport East Annual Summit 2022 gallery on Flickr: Transport Summit 2022 | Flickr