Background
The requirements to adopt a Green Travel Plan were included in both of the 2010 S.106 Planning Agreements. The OCC Agreement sets out a requirement for the Developers to adopt a Travel Plan and to appoint a Travel Plan Co-Ordinator (TPC). The SODC Agreement covers the setting up of a Community Trust and a requirement ‘to encourage a low carbon lifestyle’.
Our approach
As the original Cholsey Community Development Trust (CCDT) Board did not include community representation, apart from the Parish Council appointee, Cholsey 1000 Plus took the initiative to invite community, sports and faith groups in the village to send a representative to form a Working Group, with whom the Developers could liaise ahead of there being any residents at Fair Mile/Cholsey Meadows. This Working Group, which was accountable to the CCDT Board, was established in July 2011 and met regularly until February 2015, when the Trust decided to change its working groups structure to reflect changing needs, once residents were on-site and the Great Hall had been handed into management. The Working Group oversaw the development of the Travel Plan and adapted it to suit Cholsey’s community approach, by setting up a separate Travel Group.
In March 2013, the CCDT had been contracted by the Developers to oversee and deliver the required Travel Plan. The Travel Plan also required a baseline Travel Survey to be carried out, and then subsequent surveys as more homes were occupied. The Travel Group developed a travel survey, which went out to all residents on-site in November 2013. This was hand-delivered in hard copy to the 180 homes which were then in occupation. 63 surveys were returned and analysed to form the baseline Travel Plan Report 2013 and action plan, which was published early in 2014.
Cholsey Travel Group met regularly from May 2012 until June 2016. Its main focus was on looking at measures:
- to improve safety within the village
- promote cycling and walking
- reduce parking within the village, to support safer walking and cycling
- to investigate the development of a community minibus / dial-a-ride service
Travel Survey 2019
Members of the Board developed a simplified survey form, which was printed and delivered to all homes on-site in November 2019, together with a new CCDT information leaflet about the Trust and its aims.
Unlike the 2013 Survey, where the response rate had been 35% of the 180 households then in residence, the 2019 survey elicited responses from just 31 households, representing 58 adults and 10 children and young people. A response rate of less than 10% of households.
The results of the 2019 Survey and the work of the Cholsey Travel Group and the CCDT demonstrate that these objectives and targets have largely been met.
Key Issues
The main issues arising from the Survey and from the comments received, and which the CCDT is in a position to take up, are set out below:
| Issue | Way Forward | Who to lead on this |
| Better information about footpaths and walking groups | Increase the information provided on Cholsey CDT website and the Cholsey Village website. Provide information in The Forty magazine. | Cholsey CDT and Cholsey 1000 Plus |
| Better and more frequent bus services to Wallingford; better connectivity with train times; wheelchair-accessible buses to come onto the site | Discussions to be initiated with Thames Travel and with OCC Transport Officers | County Councillor, Mark Gray, to be asked to lead on this, with OCC |
| More parking and lifts to platforms at Cholsey Station | Discussions to be initiated with Network Rail and with OCC Transport Officers | County Councillor, Mark Gray, to be asked to lead on this, with OCC |
| Better and more segregated cycle paths | Discussions to be initiated with Cholsey Parish Council and OCC Transport about keeping the existing cycle paths clear of weeds | Cholsey CDT and Parish Council, with OCC |
| Dial-a-Ride service | Explore the opportunities for a South Oxfordshire Dial-a-Ride service | Cholsey CDT and County Councillor, Mark Gray |
| Promoting a greener life-style (as embedded in the CCDT constitution) | Cholsey CDT to hold a ‘Green Fair’ bi-ennially, with speakers, stalls and information about greener energy, transport and life-style options | Cholsey CDT, in partnership with other local community groups |
For more information, or to get involved in delivering a greener lifestyle, contact the CCDT office at info@cholseycdt.org.uk.