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Our vision for travel and transport and a call for action |
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Ambleside Action for a Future is a network of local residents working together to mitigate climate and environmental breakdown and build community resilience. We believe passionately in a prosperous, healthy and environmentally-friendly future for our town.
We are aware that road traffic is one of the major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, which are causing changes to the climate that are already impacting us and the natural world.
Despite the hardship and pain caused by the COVID pandemic, during the lockdown we saw wonderful changes brought about by the massive reduction in traffic through our town. The lack of pollution and noise gave us the joy of breathing clean air, witnessing an upsurge in wildlife activity, and hearing the birdsong. Walking and cycling on quiet roads was a pleasure.
Implementing measures to reduce traffic in normal times would enable us to make those positive changes permanent. The peace, tranquillity, clean air and lack of congestion would be an incentive for visitors to come to our town. Our community and businesses would prosper, and so would the environment.
We need incentives for people to leave their cars behind and to travel to and through the Lake District in a sustainable way.
We need a comprehensive integrated sustainable transport system with a hub in Ambleside. This would include affordable public transport, protected cycle routes, public electric vehicle charging points, traffic calming and pedestrian-only zones. The costs of this could be met through a levy on traffic driving into the National Park. We believe that the Lake District should be free for people to access, but not free for noisy polluting traffic.
We welcome the current £2 cap on single bus fares. This is a small step in the right direction.
We want to be part of a World Heritage Site that is worthy of the name – a world leader in transport solutions for communities, the climate, and the local environment. We believe that these changes will bring huge positive benefits for everybody.
Over the years, many publications have proposed solutions. For example –
We welcome these aims and proposals, but we have seen little action so far.
Our vision is that:
We therefore call for urgent action from government, the Lake District National Park, Cumberland Council and Westmorland and Furness Council, and we call upon other communities in the Lake District to join us in a movement to bring about a new sustainable vision.
We are aware that road traffic is one of the major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, which are causing changes to the climate that are already impacting us and the natural world.
Despite the hardship and pain caused by the COVID pandemic, during the lockdown we saw wonderful changes brought about by the massive reduction in traffic through our town. The lack of pollution and noise gave us the joy of breathing clean air, witnessing an upsurge in wildlife activity, and hearing the birdsong. Walking and cycling on quiet roads was a pleasure.
Implementing measures to reduce traffic in normal times would enable us to make those positive changes permanent. The peace, tranquillity, clean air and lack of congestion would be an incentive for visitors to come to our town. Our community and businesses would prosper, and so would the environment.
We need incentives for people to leave their cars behind and to travel to and through the Lake District in a sustainable way.
We need a comprehensive integrated sustainable transport system with a hub in Ambleside. This would include affordable public transport, protected cycle routes, public electric vehicle charging points, traffic calming and pedestrian-only zones. The costs of this could be met through a levy on traffic driving into the National Park. We believe that the Lake District should be free for people to access, but not free for noisy polluting traffic.
We welcome the current £2 cap on single bus fares. This is a small step in the right direction.
We want to be part of a World Heritage Site that is worthy of the name – a world leader in transport solutions for communities, the climate, and the local environment. We believe that these changes will bring huge positive benefits for everybody.
Over the years, many publications have proposed solutions. For example –
- The Lake District National Park Partnership’s Management Plan 2020-25 has a stated aim to decarbonise transport and revolutionise how visitors and residents travel.
- The Cumbria Transport Infrastructure Plan 2022-2037 includes an objective to decarbonise transport networks.
- The Cumbria Bus Service Improvement Plan 2021 states that the development and delivery of accessible, sustainable and connected transport networks is necessary to support communities and economic growth, and that this needs all modes of transport to be effectively integrated with each other, and with land uses, in a manner that respects our world class environment.
- Julian Glover’s “Landscapes Review” for DEFRA proposes that there should be new, more sustainable ways of accessing national landscapes, and that a new approach to coordinating public transport should be piloted in the Lake District.
We welcome these aims and proposals, but we have seen little action so far.
Our vision is that:
- Most visitors will either arrive in the Lake District by train or bus, or will leave their cars at gateway car parks, and continue by public transport or other sustainable methods. The capacity of the Lakes Line to Windermere will have been increased by the introduction of a passing loop at Burneside.
- There will be a comprehensive, frequent, affordable, integrated, sustainable transport system across the Lake District, linking modes including trains, buses, minibuses, boats and cycles. The majority of vehicles will be electric or use sustainable fuels. The National Park will have overall responsibility for managing traffic and transport, including regulating buses.
- There will be an eco-levy on cars driving into the Lake District, which will reduce traffic and help to fund the transport system and investment in infrastructure including cycle paths. Some roads will be closed to cars at certain times. There will be exceptions for certain essential vehicles.
- The Lake District will be marketed as a world-class green destination.
- The reduction in traffic will allow the centre of Ambleside to be pedestrianised, transforming the town into a safer and more pleasant place to live and work, and providing an exceptional visitor experience. There will be traffic calming measures to reduce speed to 20 mph through the town.
- The area around King Street bus stop in Ambleside will have developed into a sustainable transport hub. There will be tourist information, toilets, bike and electric bike/trike hire, taxis, buses and minibuses running frequently to local villages, valleys and tourist attractions. The cost of a family group taking the bus on a return journey to anywhere in the Lakes will be less than the cost of driving.
- There will be protected cycle lanes and/or multi-user paths on all the routes out of Ambleside, linking to the surrounding towns, villages and beauty spots. These will make cycling, walking and using a wheelchair safe and attractive choices for residents and visitors.
- There will be community electric vehicle charging hubs in several locations around Ambleside. There will also be a local car club, enabling residents and visitors to book electric cars when they need one, and thus reducing the need for residents to own a car or visitors to bring one.
We therefore call for urgent action from government, the Lake District National Park, Cumberland Council and Westmorland and Furness Council, and we call upon other communities in the Lake District to join us in a movement to bring about a new sustainable vision.
Registered Charity Number 1188921