🤝 Partnership Working - MM#620
There are lots of ways that us transport professionals can help decision makers to take the tough decisions
Good day my good friend.
Today’s newsletter is something somewhat different. Yesterday, I was on a panel at the Walking + Cycling Innovation Conference in Manchester, where I gave my perspective on what transport professionals can do for elected councillors to help us deliver walking and cycling schemes. So what is presented below is my expanded thoughts that I presented at the event, with some further reflections based on the discussion that took place. I hope that you find the insight, based on my 3 years at Flitwick Town Council, to be somewhat useful.
I must thank the contributions of Rowena Champion of the London Borough of Islington, Mike McCusker of Salford City Council, and Mandie Shilton Godwin of Manchester City Council for giving me plenty of food for thought. As well as Oliver Davey who excellently chaired the panel.
If you like this newsletter, please share it with someone else who you think will love it. The main way my audience grows is through your recommendations. I will love you forever if you do. ☺️
James
🏛️ Ask not what councillors can do for you…
Just over 3 years ago, I took the leap into being an elected representative of the people. Ok, technically I was co-opted. Regardless, I took the decision to be the solution to what I saw as the big problem in achieving the radical change towards a sustainable and just transport system: I became a Town Councillor.
I knew that because of the frankly insane way that local government is set up in the UK, being a Town Councillor would not mean that I had the authority to build lots of cycle tracks everywhere. But I knew from experience that unsure or outright hostile councillors could act as a major barrier to doing truly radical things. Plus, Town Councils do have some powers over highways (a partial list can be found here), so I should be the change. The case for change is obvious, so convincing people of the need for new walking and cycling infrastructure is an easy sell, right?
The last 3 years have been a very steep learning curve for me. There are many well-established issues that get a lot of attention from professionals and activists, such as loud voices in opposition and even conspiracy theorists. But my experience has been that it is often more mundane things that are a significant barrier to change as much as all of the issues that play out in the public eye.
We like to think as professionals that there are two sides to a public authority. There are the councillors who are the decision makers and elected representatives of the people, and there are the officers who come up with the ideas because they know everything there is to know about their subject area (or they want to get their pet project through - far more common than we care to admit). The reality is that councillors and officers are part of the same team – even if they don’t want to be.
The Town Council I work with is unique, in that we are far larger than most other town councils. As well as doing the stereo-typically parish council things of litter bins, checking on footpaths, and commenting on planning applications, we also run a conference venue, hire out numerous premises to local groups, run cost of living services like a community fridge, run a local youth service, maintain several local parks and play areas, we are building a country park, and have just taken on a former bank to turn into a community facility. All of this requires a collective effort on behalf of a team of dedicated and wonderful officers, and councillors who do all this work voluntarily.
Even within teams, there are roles, and team members need to be played to their strengths. And my experience has taught me there are specific roles for councillors and officers within this team.
Councillors must ultimately be responsible for setting the vision. We don’t need to be 100% clear on every aspect of the vision (e.g. whether this road will have a cycle track or not), but we need to be able to articulate what we are looking to achieve in this vision. In strategy terms, this is focusing on tangible outcomes. In the context of active travel, this is not about a set number of schemes delivered, but about things like more children feeling comfortable playing in the street, or bustling cafes in the centre of town. And we need to have a good idea of the trade-offs needed to achieve it, and the ability of officers to deliver it.
More critically, however, is councillors are responsible for selling this vision in a way that is understandable to key people within our communities. We don’t need to convince absolutely everyone why our plan is amazing – there will always be people who will hate what you do. But we need to convince the people who know everyone in the community of the value of what we are doing. These can be councillors, business owners, voluntary group leaders, the local head teacher, anyone. This requires time, persistence, persuasion, and the occasional good-natured argument. If there was a magic bullet on how to make friends and influence people, everyone would do it, so in the absence of that sheer persistence often pays off.
Officers, meanwhile, should have the technical skills to deliver (that’s a given). But the value that they add to the team is in clarification and constructive challenge. While councillors need to set the vision for what the authority wishes to achieve and to own it, officers must work with councillors to understand what this all specifically means in the context of their work and for specific schemes. For example, a council may have committed to reducing carbon emissions from its operations. Does that mean we need to prioritise getting people to cycle to the office, when car sharing could achieve more? You say, councillors, that you want to prioritise safety of vulnerable road users, but in this scheme we will have a conflict between pedestrians and cyclists: what do we do?
Constructive challenge goes without saying. Budgets, staff resource, and numerous other factors inhibit what you can achieve as a council, and so officers setting out these constraints helps a lot. But critical here is constructive challenge. In other words, not “there is no way we can do that councillor” but instead “that will be hard, but there may be other ways we can achieve the same goal” (unless what you ask for is completely illegal or insanely expensive – then that is your fault as a councillor for suggesting it).
All this sounds really mundane, but never underestimate the importance of mundane. Basic things around setting the right tone in meetings and focusing on delivery matters. And so often that is missing. I have lost count of the number of times that officers have come into meetings with new councillors and asked “so what are your priorities?” As if those councillors or that specific portfolio holder hasn’t campaigned on something, and that something cannot be found out by simply searching for it online.
Officers and councillors need to establish meetings and other processes that encourage bold ideas, give constructive challenge, and ensures everyone is aware of what needs doing, when, and who is responsible for it. If you are an officer who goes into a meeting thinking about the decision that you want, something is wrong. That is symptomatic of a process that makes the routine jobs hard, and the radical almost impossible.
If I was to suggest to us professionals one thing that we should do to help councillors, it would be this. Prepare for your first meeting, thinking about how you can deliver on their priorities. Transport for London is the best example I know of in how you do this, when their presentation from of their first meeting with Mayor Sadiq Khan in 2016 was leaked. This showed what they understood his priorities were, and options for delivery. Use a similar approach as the basis of a conversation focused on delivery - which may take several meetings. Explore their vision of the future, discuss how you can achieve common goals, and build an understanding with them as to what this entails. Importantly, establish a relationship of trust with them, because when you do and the going gets tough, they will have your back.
Yes, we need strategy. Yes, we need delivery. But both are underpinned by mutual understanding and team work. If you don’t deliver that, even the best laid plans will fail.
What you can do: I kind of covered this previously. So go check out my previous newsletter on being a councillor for some useful hints and tips.
🎓 From academia
The clever clogs at our universities have published the following excellent research. Where you are unable to access the research, email the author - they may give you a copy of the research paper for free.
TL:DR - Not all shared transport offer environmental benefits.
Differences in perceptions of fuel duties and emissions trading in road transport
TL:DR - People like being able to trade carbon credits more than fuel taxes.
TL:DR - Purely through the second hand market, 50% of Mexico’s vehicle fleet will be electric vehicles by 2050.
Role of income on travel behavior in polluted air
TL:DR - On days of high pollution, the richest don’t ravel or get in their cars, the poorest shift to public transport.
✊ Awesome people doing awesome things
I’ve already mentioned them. Rowena Champion of the London Borough of Islington, Mike McCusker of Salford City Council, and Mandie Shilton Godwin of Manchester City Council are all actually doing stuff. Building bike tracks, closing off roads to through traffic, improving town centres, you name it. Give them some love.
📷 Out and About
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of using East Midlands Railways. Of whom I have a few comments to make.
Firstly, why does the baby changing facility at Kettering station close half an hour before the main toilets do? Families face all sorts of barriers to using public transport, and while this seems minor, this speaks a lot about their priorities.
Secondly, a 4-carriage diesel commuter train on a long distance route serving cities like Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Nottingham, Peterborough, and Norwich? Is this acceptable in 2023?
Finally, thanks for the missed connection at Sheffield. The city and the station are lovely, but being nearly an hour and a half late for a conference is not.
What you can do: There is a national campaign in the UK for family friendly trains. You should consider backing them. Apparently East Midlands Railway didn’t send back information to inform their Family Friendly Scorecard. Figures.
🖼️ Graphic Design
All of these causes of child mortality? Transport has a role in each of them. Its time we did something about it, don’t you think?
📚 Random things
These links are meant to make you think about the things that affect our world in transport, and not just think about transport itself. I hope that you enjoy them.
The High Cost of Cheap Fast Fashion (EconLife)
America may soon be in recession, according to a famous rule (The Economist)
Why the future might not be where you think it is (The Conversation)
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