Didcot: Green travel campaign at Milton Park reaps benefits

MEPC, manager and developer of Milton Park, has announced the results of its forward-thinking green travel campaign, which launched at the end of 2016.

The campaign, which aims to inspire and motivate people to make travel changes, forms part of MEPC’s long-term commitment to responsible property investment. By encouraging commitment from businesses and employees across Milton Park, the measures have so far helped improve congestion and air quality.

Bringing in Vectos, a London-based transport consultancy, MEPC has been working alongside a specially-appointed Travel Advisor, Veronica Reynolds, to help identify where changes needed to be made and how to implement them successfully.

Over the past 12 months, MEPC has executed and encouraged a range of green transport and customer engagement initiatives such as a free bike loan scheme, an upgraded car share system, extra electric car charging points and the creation of the Milton Park Travel Forum. These changes have allowed people to adopt greener forms of travel over their daily car commute.

Across the Park, people also participated in an annual car-free day with prizes for the quirkiest mode of travel. This year’s winner arrived to work at Milton Park on a unicycle.

Over the past 12 months, the campaign has been hugely effective, resulting in:

• ‘Liftshare’ membership growing from 74 to 563 people
• 14% increase in people sharing their journeys
• 5% increase in cycling
• 4% reduction in people travelling in single occupancy vehicles (SOV) which equates to 200 less cars a day
• A further reduction of approximately 5% is anticipated over the next 12 months

Philip Campbell, commercial director for MEPC at Milton Park, said: “Our green travel campaign is all about helping and encouraging people who can change the way they travel here to do so. This might not be every day but perhaps once or twice a week. We are hugely grateful to all those working on Milton Park who have taken up the baton and collectively helped achieve these great results. It’s those small changes that can often make such a big difference.

"We look forward to continuing to work with Vectos and the Park community and announcing further exciting initiatives to help even more people make a change.”

Veronica Reynolds, behavioural change adviser, Vectos, added: “I’ve been delighted with the response from Milton Park occupiers to the various travel initiatives and events over the past 12 months. People have shown that they want to make a positive difference to the environment by choosing to run, cycle or car-share into work, which helps to create a healthier working lifestyle.

“As the Didcot Garden Town area continues to grow, these changes will be more important than ever to create a truly sustainable environment and we are pleased to be doing our bit to help.”