Energy Efficient Urban Mobility in Sunderland Feedback report from the CASCADE Peer Review Sunderland, 23- 25 May 2012 Report produced by CASCADE project Lead author: Koucky & Partners, Michael Koucky Version: Final, approved version CASCADE is a EU-funded project coordinated by EUROCITIES which aims to design and deliver large- scale networking and mutual learning actions on local energy leadership among members of the EUROCITIES network. The CASCADE consortium is composed of: EUROCITIES, Wuppertal Institut, Koucky & Partners and the following cities: Amaroussion, Amsterdam, Birmingham, Burgas, Edinburgh, Eindhoven, Gateshead, Genoa, Gijon, Malmo, Mannheim, Milan, Nantes, Stockholm, Sunderland, Tampere, Terrassa, Venice and Warsaw. The CASCADE project is co-financed by the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme. The sole responsibility for the content of this report lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union. Neither the EACI nor the European Commission are responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein. www.cascadecities.eu 3 Table of content Executive Summary ............................................................................................ 4 1. Introduction and aim ..................................................................................... 6 2. Peer Review Methodology and Visit .................................................................... 7 2.1 General introduction ................................................................................. 7 2.2 The Peer Review Visit in Sunderland ............................................................... 7 2.3 The CASCADE-benchmark ............................................................................ 9 3. Background information on the City of Sunderland ............................................... 10 4. The Assessment ......................................................................................... 12 4.1 A - Local energy leadership and ambitions ...................................................... 12 4.2 B - Local strategies and policies .................................................................. 16 4.3 C - Organisational and managerial issues ........................................................ 20 4.4 D - Stakeholders and citizens involvement ...................................................... 24 4.5 E - Information, knowledge and awareness ..................................................... 27 4.6 F - Financing, investments and risks ............................................................. 30 5. Specific projects ........................................................................................ 33 5.1 The North East Smart Ticketing Initiative ......................................................... 33 5.2 Reflections on public transport ..................................................................... 34 5.3 Low Carbon Vehicle Policy ........................................................................... 35 6. General conclusions .................................................................................... 37 Appendix ....................................................................................................... 39 List of Interviewees ....................................................................................... 39 December 2012 CASCADE Feedback report – Sunderland 4 Executive Summary Background This report summarises the findings of the CASCADE peer review on energy efficient urban transport in the City of Sunderland. The peer review was performed in May 2012 by a team of 11 European experts in the fields of urban transport and energy, mainly from other European cities. It was based on the evaluation of a self-assessment report and other information provided by Sunderland City Council and a series of interviews and site visits in Sunderland to provide additional information. The purpose of the CASCADE peer review is to provide Sunderland with an outside view on its strategies and performance in the field of urban transport and to provide recommendations for areas of improvement. The following areas were addressed: • Local leadership and ambitions • Local strategies and policies • Organisational and managerial issues • Stakeholder and citizen involvement • Information, knowledge and awareness • Financing, investments and risks Further, two specific projects, the North East Smart Ticketing Initiative and the Low Carbon Vehicle Policy were subject of the review. Findings and recommendations Sunderland has ambitious climate goals and has initiated a large number of projects to improve its transport system, especially in the area of low-carbon vehicles. In this field, Sunderland is one of Europe’s forerunners, especially considering the efforts of capacity building in manufacturing and maintenance of electric vehicles. The peers find it inspiring that the city tries to combine climate measures with its economic development strategy. Further, Sunderland is working with key partners on sustainable travel planning and has implemented sustainable travel plans in its own organisation. However, the transport system in Sunderland is still very car-oriented and there are some substantial challenges ahead to reach a sustainable urban transport system. The peer review team found that the city works systematically on climate issues and has a professional and suitable organisation to implement its current local transport plan LTP3. The peer review team especially wants to applaud the planned improvements of the METRO system and the efforts to introduce a regional ticketing system. But also the comprehensive approach of capacity building in the field of electric vehicles, involving many stakeholders (including industry, December 2012 CASCADE Feedback report – Sunderland 5 universities and colleges) deserves to be mentioned. However, is not entirely evident whether the suggested measures will be sufficient to achieve the city’s ambitious climate goals. Especially the expected contribution of the low carbon vehicle projects to Sunderlands climate goals for 2020 is not clear. The actions of the city to achieve climate targets seem so far to have an emphasis on technical solutions, public transport and change of vehicle technology. In these areas, the city shows considerable efforts. The peer review team found room for further efforts in the field of physical planning to reduce the need to travel and to reduce travel distances and the promotion of walking and cycling. These areas promise further potential for emission reduction that could be exploited at relatively low cost. The key recommendation of the peer review team is for the city to strengthen these lines of work to further support the current efforts of the LTP3 and the city’s climate efforts. Other key recommendations are summarised below: • Public transport has a significant potential to increase its market share if the quality of the total system can be improved, based on a user-perspective. Potential areas of improvement are a common ticketing system, improvements in travel time and comfort. The peer review team applauds the efforts to test and introduce a regional ticketing system and the planned improvements of the METRO system and recommends to continue along these lines but also to improve the quality of service. • There is significant potential for reduced travel demand in the region through a re- vitalisation of the city centre and regional hubs with a mixed-use development and quality improvements of the METRO system, potentially reducing car travel. The peer- review team applauds the city’s current efforts in this area and would like to encourage further developments in the same spirit. • Public procurement could be used more extensively as a tool to influence the market to provide more sustainable transport- and travel services. • Walking and cycling are sustainable mode of transport that has further potential for development in Sunderland. This is true for both inner-city transport but also for longer-distances, e.g. for connecting urban nodes and suburbs and city centres. A further development of cycling infrastructure and –promotion and the walkability of the city centre is encouraged. • Sunderland is recommended to explore possibilities of using financial instruments to both influence travel behaviour and as a funding source for sustainable transport investments to a greater extend. Examples are parking fees or levies on parking lots. December 2012 CASCADE Feedback report – Sunderland 6 1. Introduction and aim CASCADE is a EU-funded project led by EUROCITIES, with the aim to design and deliver large-scale networking and mutual learning actions on local energy leadership among European cities. This is delivered by means of various activities for knowledge exchange between participating cities. CASCADE has three main thematic areas, all central for the future development of energy use in cities: • Energy efficient buildings & districts • Renewable energy policies and distributed energy generation • Energy in urban transport One of the formats for mutual learning used within CASCADE are peer reviews, where a team of experts from different European cities assess the current situation of a host city for one of the specific focal areas of CASCADE The primary aim of peer reviews is to provide the host city with an external view on their current strategy and efforts by a team of thematic experts from different cities. The assessment identifies