Council Elections 2021: The SCATE Sustainable Transport Pledges

13/04/2021

With candidates for upcoming council elections announced a few days ago, political parties will be rolling out their campaigns to win seats at the ballot box on Thursday 6th May. Along the south coast elections are taking place in Hampshire, East Sussex, West Sussex and Kent, though not in Brighton and Hove. We hope that climate change and environmental protection will feature higher than ever on the list of priorities.

SCATE has asked candidates from the Conservative, Labour, Lib Dem and Green parties to sign up to our Sustainable Transport Pledges. We’re also encouraging others to write to candidates we’ve already contacted as well as those from other parties and independents, encouraging them to respond to the google form. The deadline for submission is 26/4/21, at which point we’ll be collecting the results, and publicising them across the south coast.

The SCATE Sustainable Transport Pledges are to:

  • Promote policies that significantly reduce carbon emissions associated with transport.
  • Support every village/town having a bus service every hour.
  • Lobby for cheaper rail services.
  • Campaign for safer roads for all to enable more active travel.
  • Prioritise digital infrastructure over road building.
  • Support the A27 Arundel Alternative and oppose Highways England’s Grey Route.
  • Campaign for an urgent upgrade of West Coastway rail services.
  • Oppose any new A27 dual carriageway east of Lewes.
  • Campaign for the reintroduction of the Uckfield-Lewes rail line.
  • Campaign for an urgent upgrade of Marshlink rail line.
  • Seek the scrapping of ‘Smart motorways’. 
  • Campaign for more frequent rail services in the Solent area.

We hope that by asking candidates to sign up to these pledges we’ll raise sustainable transit up the agenda. This campaign provides an opportunity for candidates to assure voters that they will take transport emissions seriously. It will also provide a benchmark to judge future councillors’ actions by.

The more people ask candidates to commit to the pledges the more likely they are to do so. Please write to your local candidates asking them to fill in the form. Below is a copy of what we sent out, you can use this as a template if you like, but it’s also great to personalise the letter. A list of candidates standing in your area can be found on the relevant council website.

Written by Pete Nolan (SCATE Campaign Support Officer)

 

Here is the letter that we sent out:

Dear political party group, 

I am writing on behalf of South Coast Alliance for Transport and the Environment (SCATE); a coalition of over 45 member organisations across Hampshire, Sussex and Kent as well as many  individual members across the 4 counties. We are asking all council candidates to commit to sustainable transport pledges in the run up to the elections in May. We will collate all commitments and publicise these along the south coast.

Over the last two years we have seen seismic shifts in public attitudes towards environmental issues. 74% of councils have now declared a climate emergency and must act swiftly to tackle this problem. Councils have an important role in both implementing and lobbying for changes, particularly around high impact areas such as transport, in order to ensure we build back greener after COVID-19. 

We want to give political parties the opportunity to demonstrate whether candidates would actively support reduction in transport emissions and promotion of the wellbeing of local communities if elected in May, by committing to the following pledges:

  • Promote policies and actions that significantly reduce carbon emissions associated with transport.
  • Support every village/town having a bus service every hour. 
  • Lobby for cheaper rail service.
  • Campaign for safer roads for all, including new infrastructure that enables walking, cycling and a shift away from car use.
  • Prioritise digital infrastructure rollout over road building.
  • Support the A27 Arundel Alternative and oppose Highways England’s Grey Route.
  • Campaign for an urgent upgrade of West Coastway rail services.
  • Oppose any new A27 dual carriageway east of Lewes.
  • Campaign for the reintroduction of the Uckfield-Lewes rail line.
  • Campaign for an urgent upgrade of Marshlink rail line.
  • Seek the scrapping of ‘Smart motorways’. 
  • Campaign for more frequent rail services in the Solent area.

            Please fill in this google form to indicate which of the sustainable transport pledges your party supports. We are asking for a response from each political party in each council area. 

The deadline for submission of the form is 26/04/2021. SCATE will then collate the responses and publicise these along the south coast. 

Yours Sincerely