Barry White
Saturday’s Green Café virtual meeting (15 January) organised by ACE, will get a comprehensive report on the transport and energy survey which was carried out during the summer. We distributed over 2,500 questionnaires to residents in Settle and surrounding villages. 701 were returned of which 586 were posted and 155 were completed on-line, representing a return rate of 27%.
The survey’s organiser Paul Cochrane has spent the last three months analysing the replies to the 31 questions distributed by ACE supporters in the summer. Paul comments:
“The survey of local transport was launched because ACE wished to contribute to the local improvement plans mandated under the 2021 ‘Bus Back Better’ national bus strategy. The inadequacy of the services has been apparent for years, and we felt that the only way that things might improve was by providing reliable data about our communities’ transport needs. The results of the survey reveal some of the complexity of the situation. Having a car looks like an essential for Dales residents, but car use is relatively low. As would be expected, people without cars have less transport options, but their use of buses, trains, and community transport is also relatively low.
“One of our next steps is to look at the local transport provision again from the perspective of what travellers want to achieve rather than where a bus or train is going. The data also suggests that more could be done to communicate the sustainable aspects of our area that are already in place.
“The objective of the energy survey was to gauge resident’s interest in a community energy scheme. Settle has its hydro, but there are opportunities for other schemes exploiting different technology. The response from the survey was encouragingly positive and the ACE Energy group look forward to working with the community, local authorities, and distribution network operators to develop a local energy plan.”
The virtual green café meeting will be held from 10.30am – 12.00 Saturday 15 January and you can join at: https://acesettleandarea.org/event/januarys-green-cafe/
Further information about the meeting and any comments on this article please email ACE at: acesettleandarea at gmail.com (replace at with @))
