Southampton is the third-most population dense city in England, and like many major cities, continues to experience persistent congestion and poor air quality in certain key areas of the city. Whilst road sources remain the principal source of key pollutants in the city, shipping and other industry also contribute and provide unique challenges to address. Although Southampton has seen improvements in air quality over recent years, the city is set to grow, with 42,000 new homes forecasted between 2016 and 2037 and projection that The Port of Southampton could be handling twice as many cruise ship passengers by 2035. There is clearly a need to identify and pursue new, innovative opportunities for improving transport to ensure improvements are maintained over the coming years.
The Local NO2 Plan includes CAZ equivalent taxi licensing conditions, a low emission taxi incentive scheme, taxi only rapid charge points, a telematics scheme to help build the case for EVs, clean bus retrofit scheme, targeted “Bitterne MyJourney” active travel campaign, cycle routes, freight framework agreement and more. Southampton City Council is also working with other councils and public authorities on the Solent Future Transport Zone programme. This is a £28m DfT funded programme of innovative transport projects, including e-scooters, bike share, lift sharing, dynamic DRT, mobility hubs, mobility credits, sustainable logistics (incl. drone logistics) and delivering a Mobility-as-a-Service application for the Solent region, all of which hope to improve transport across the region and reduce the contribution of transport to poor air quality.
Like to learn more? If you meet our regular delegate qualification criteria but were unable to join us for EMISSIONS & AIR QUALITY Smart Class, South 2022 (hosted at Browns Courtrooms, Covent Garden on March 30th), CLICK HERE and complete the short “Download form” located at the bottom of the post to receive a unique link enabling free access to the presentation video recordings and slides. This includes film footage and slides from the insightful keynote – “Utilising Innovative Transport Solutions to Tackle Southampton’s Air Quality Challenge” – co-presented by Southampton City Council’s Sustainable Projects Lead (Air Quality), George O’Ferrall, and Solent Transport’s FTZ Project Manager, Rob Gloyns.
Those qualifying to receive the rich presentation content from this event include commissioning, procurement, trialling and partnering leads, senior influencers, strategic decision makers and planners from: local authorities (e.g. city, borough, metropolitan, district and county councils); public and private transport operators/service providers; sub-regional transport bodies, combined authorities, integrated transport authorities and passenger transport executives; road operators and highways authorities; freight and logistics operators; airports and port operators; vehicle manufacturers; energy providers; potential partners from industry (e.g. retail, construction, manufacturing and waste management sectors) and healthcare; DfT, Defra, EA, BEIS, DHSC and supporting national agencies; prime contractors etc.
