The Department for Transport’s Decarbonisation Plan: 'Setting the Challenge' document lists place-based decarbonisation as one of its six key pillars. But what does place-based decarbonisation mean and how might it shape the final Decarbonisation Plan? The DecarboN8 Network was set up in September 2019 in recognition of the need for a place-based approach to decarbonisation. These webinars will launch the network’s framework for taking a place-based approach and why this is critical if we are to hit a zero carbon pathway. These events are also an opportunity to hear from partners across the North about what this means to them and to discuss how to bring place-based decarbonisation to life. The second webinar in this series will take place on Monday 14th Sept 2020, 2-4 pm (Register here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/17Ljkxm105M2HE7UqyjnJYfA6kT1U7DNyldvdNM7T_gE/edit?ts=5f2830c8)

1. Professor Greg Marsden
Richard Walker
Institute for Transport Studies
University of Leeds
Place-based Transport Decarbonisation

2. Carbon Reduction
2020 20402030 2050
Surface Transport
Emissions A Clear National
Framework is
Essential

4. Key Element #1: Different functions

5. Key Element #2: Different transport systems

6. Key Element #3: Different built environments
Terraced houses:
51% on-street parking
Half of these “inadequate”
Up to 45% of private
rented accommodation in
some areas

7. Key Element #4: Different populations and cultures
Bradford – 25% Asian/Asian British
Wakefield – 2% Asian/Asian British
South Lakeland 24% U25, 28% 65+
Newcastle Upon Tyne 39% U25, 14% 65+

8. Key Element #5: Different visions

9. Which results in very different start points:
a look at the data
Background: the MoT data set
• Home address of the vehicle’s registered keeper
• Vehicle’s make, model, engine and emissions class
• Mileage since the last test
permitting calculation of:
• Mileage & emissions per year per vehicle owned by residents of area
• Emissions per head of resident population
Metrics local authorities can feel ownership of as a baseline for
measuring progress on the required rapid transport decarbonisation.

10. MoT data: variation in CO2 emissions/head/year
Among the 326 English districts:
• min = 208 kg/year (LB Hackney)
• max = 1,071 kg/year (South Northants)
• median = 718kg/year (East Staffordshire)
• mean = 629 kg/year (Gedling, Slough)
• 17 of the lowest 20 are inner London, plus Manchester, Liverpool, Nottm
• All of the highest 20 are affluent rural districts in the ‘extended Gtr SE’:
2nd lowest is Cotswold (Glos), then East Hampshire, then Uttlesford (Essex)
• Highest in the North: Selby, Hambleton, Ryedale, Eden

11. Drivers of emissions per head
• Both pop. density & affluence/deprivation
both correlated with emissions/head, but
only weakly with each other
• Numbers of cars per head is the key driver.

12. Classifying districts by place type
The ONS 2011 area classification combines
settlement type/pop density, demographic &
affluence/deprivation characteristics.

13. Emissions & characteristics by place type category
Area classification of districts
No. of
dists
Avg car
emissions
/head (kg
CO2)
Share of
2011 pop
Share of
2011 car
emissions
Pop
density
(hd/sq
km)
IMD
score
(2015)
Cars/thou
res pop
Walk for
travel
1x/mth
2018
Cycle for
travel
1x/mth
2018
Affluent England 51 866 12.3% 16.4% 648 10 477 50% 8%
Countryside Living 62 811 14.0% 17.5% 256 18 455 40% 7%
Town and Country Living 64 804 15.3% 19.0% 524 15 452 41% 6%
Urban Settlements 54 615 17.7% 16.3% 1958 25 368 46% 6%
Services and Industrial Legacy 34 597 11.4% 10.6% 1409 27 362 41% 5%
Business, Education and Heritage Centres 29 529 13.1% 10.3% 2670 23 325 58% 14%
Ethnically Diverse Metropolitan Living 19 457 11.2% 7.9% 5185 25 287 59% 7%
London Cosmopolitan 12 272 5.0% 2.1% 10471 27 181 73% 17%
All English districts 325 698 100.0% 100.0% 1654 19 402 47% 7%

14. Variation of emissions within place type: the fruits of
past policy – and the space for future action?
ONS area classification of districts Min Mean Max Range Lowest Highest
Affluent England 555 866 1052 496 Richmond-u-T E Hampshire
Countryside Living 553 811 1054 500 Isle of Wight Cotswold
Town and Country Living 626 804 1071 445 Stockport S Northants
Urban Settlements 402 615 791 389 Hull Wellingborough
Services and Industrial Legacy 461 597 721 261 S Tyneside Havant
Business, Education and Heritage Centres 335 529 742 407 Manchester Warwick
Ethnically Diverse Metropolitan Living 279 457 630 350 Newham Slough
London Cosmopolitan 208 272 381 172 Hackney Ken & Chelsea
All English districts 208 698 1071 863 Hackney S Northants

15. Places doing well: with relatively low emissions
compared to their population density and affluence
District IMD -
Average
score
(2015)
Car
emissions
/head (kg
CO2)
Diff in
rank
City of London 13.6 285 223
Richmond upon Thames 10.0 555 216
Kingston upon Thames 11.1 541 209
Cambridge 13.8 440 201
Merton 14.9 429 189
Epsom and Ewell 8.5 666 172
York 12.2 583 170
Harrow 14.3 544 148
Sutton 14.6 542 146
Wandsworth 18.3 342 144
Oxford 17.9 449 138
Barnet 17.8 494 126
Low compared to pop density
District 2011 pop
density
(hd/sq km)
Car
emissions
/head (kg
CO2)
Diff in
rank
Carlisle 103 601 198
Scarborough 133 588 193
Copeland 96 658 173
Northumberland 63 732 147
North Devon 86 725 141
Lancaster 240 601 133
Allerdale 78 738 132
Isle of Wight 364 553 128
County Durham 231 641 118
Craven 47 788 113
Boston 177 687 109
High Peak 169 708 108
Low compared to affluence
Low compared to affluence
(excluding London boroughs)

16. Places doing badly: with relatively high emissions
compared to their population density and affluence
High compared to pop density High compared to deprivation level

17. Carbon Reduction – Sum of Places
2020 20402030 2050
Surface Transport
Emissions
2020 20402030 2050
Surface Transport
Emissions
Slow

18. Key Element #6: Different pathways
Recent LGA workshop

19. Carbon Reduction – Sum of Places
2020 20402030 2050
Surface Transport
Emissions
2020 20402030 2050
Surface Transport
Emissions
£150/tonne carbon
£50/tonne carbon
£40/tonne carbon
£220/tonne carbon
£100/tonne carbon
£40/tonne carbon
A B

20. Key Element #7: Different costs of action

21. Key Element #8: Everyone and Everywhere
The Lake District
Newcastle-Upon-Tyne

22. Low population, high visitor
numbers: 500 visitors/resident
Who is our community?
Community concerns around
visitor impact
Different approaches for different
places and people
But don’t lose sight of
Decarbonisation
Lake District
National Park:
Place based
decarbonisation

23. Higher per capita GHG
emissions
Less cost effective to provide
services and infrastructure, but
visitors can make it viable
Policy and funding focus on
urban areas
Carbon from visitors, who is
responsible?! Joint working
Rural
challenges

24. 40% of all travel is for leisure
purposes
Aspirational car ownership based
on holiday/leisure imagery
Impacts on urban and rural areas
Leisure travel
impacts

25. Decarbonising a District: Electric
Vehicles
Tom Horner
Strategic Transport Planner
Harrogate Borough Council

26. Summary
• Site Suitability
- Will people use charge points in a location?
- Is there opportunity to locate the correct charge point
for the end user in a particular place?
• Cost
- Charge point cost – risk of becoming obsolete
- Electrical Infrastructure
- Revenue implications vs. incentivising the market
• Policy Balance
- Ensuring EV’s do actually decarbonise

27. Site Suitability
• Who are the potential customers, what sort of product do
they want/need?
• Land Availability
- Car parks
- Business centres
- Private sites
- Employment centres, rural areas, small
town/village parish councils, retail, leisure, tourism
• Power Supply
• Type of charger for the type of place

28. Ensuring EVs Decarbonise
• Price
• Salary sacrifice vs. rail ticket
• £200 p/m vs. £170p/m
• Market incentivisation options
• Free parking – begins to advantage vehicle use over
sustainable transport
• Congestion priorities
• Free electric – our preferred short term approach – not
financially sustainable longer term
• Two tier area – balancing priorities

29. Ensuring EVs Decarbonise
• Key Challenges
• Capital cost of electrical infrastructure to support
charge points – beyond the next 2/3 years;
• Ability to provide sufficiently fast charge points to keep
up with vehicle technology;
• Policy balance, locally and nationally to avoid mass
switch to vehicles;
• On street charging – home charge vs traditional
petrol/diesel refuelling;
• Fuel duty loss.