Reducing the need to travel, encouraging walking, cycling and low carbon transport
Where do we need to be?
‘Peak car’ has been reached and passed. Although in a rural setting car use will continue to be necessary, the automatic association between travelling by car and ownership of a car has gone. Instead, car-sharing is becoming the norm.
Affordable hourly bus services connect Bruton to Frome, Castle Cary and Wincanton from early morning to late evenings every day and are integrated with regular train services.
There are decent, safe walking and cycling routes from where people live to the town centre.
Public electric vehicle charging points are readily available.
Where are we now?
Transport is responsible for around 33% of each Bruton household’s carbon emissions.
In the UK the average private car spends 96% of its life parked somewhere, and there is now one car for every two people.
In Bruton, not having access to a car places people at considerable disadvantage, with public transport being expensive and irregular.
Most of the town is unsafe and/or inconvenient for walking and cycling, particularly for those with limited mobility.
The Town Council has plans for an off-road walking and cycling route from Frome Road to Uphills.
There are electric vehicle charging points at the Enterprise Centre, Tolbury Mill Car Park and Hauser and Wirth.
What do we need to do?
Promote car-sharing more widely, through for example HiyaCar.
Lobby for better public transport, with affordable and regular bus services, and a regular, frequent rail timetable (including Go-Op, if it comes to pass).
Promote the accessible development of the westbound platform at the station which might in addition provide a bus/rail interchange location.
Continue the Town Council’s work on safer walking and cycling and ensure that revisions of the Town Council’s planning policy address this, challenging all car-centric development proposals.
Any formal surveys planned (eg for a Town Plan update) should examine what journeys are being made and why.
Continue to support the roll-out of electric vehicle charging locations in the town, considering on-street solutions introduced elsewhere.
