Green Travel Plan extract - Action Plan:

Open courses available to the general public

- visitors are requested to endeavour to make travel arrangements that minimise pollution and congestion

- Visitors to Embercombe are invited to make arrangements for the offsetting of carbon emissions associated with their choice of travel to/from Embercombe with the C-Change charity www.thec-changetrust.org (Registration No. 5406649) of which Tim Macartney is a trustee.

- When booking a course at Embercombe we will do all we can to assist you in making travel arrangements that minimise pollution and congestion. Wherever relevant we will put course attendees in touch with others to help them find a car-share partner, if they need to travel by car.

- Arrangements have been made with a local hotel close to the A38, to allow those travelling by car to leave their vehicle for the duration of the course – travelling the last few miles in the Embercombe minibus. This arrangement will be encouraged where we anticipate more cars than the car park can comfortably hold.

- Where appropriate Embercombe will offer groups attending from organisations a travel discount to encourage them to use alternatives to car travel

- Visitors arriving by train will be encouraged to share taxis (this was successfully employed for the recent conference arranged with ‘Be The Change’), or await shared transport provided by Embercombe.

- Wherever possible travel arrangements with visitors will be co-ordinated to minimise the use of cars (particularly single occupancy) and to advocate healthy and environmentally sound alternatives.

- We have provision for bicycle access and storage and have available information relating to local cycle routes. Secure sheltered parking will be provided close to the building.

Courses for organisations
- In our experience when providing a course for a single organisation it is much easier to co-ordinate travel arrangements effectively since we are usually communicating with one central administrative function. All of the same points listed above would be employed in arriving at a satisfactory travel plan.

Targets
1. Target: With all courses for organisations (closed courses), to negotiate agreement with the client for travel arrangements that represent the best possible outcome in terms of: number of cars used, carbon emissions, and maximisation of low-impact travel options.
Measure: Enter to travel plan log relevant details of travel arrangements for all courses, including constraints, obstacles etc that may have led to any compromised outcomes.

2. Target: To aim for an average minimum vehicle occupancy of two persons for visitors attending courses by car.
Measure: Travel plan log

3. Target: In the case of visitors travelling to Embercombe from other UK regions, to aim for an average of 25% (1st year) of visitors attending courses to make use of public transport for the majority distance of their travel (35% 2nd year; 50% 3rd year).
Measure: Travel plan log.

4. Target: To make an agreement with a nearby local hotel/car park for course attendees to park their cars at this location for the duration of the course.
Measure: Agreement secured by 1st May 2007

Promotion
1. Sustainability in general, and specific to travel to/from Embercombe, advocated in all printed promotional material and website.
2. In the case of ‘open’ courses travel arrangements to be planned and arranged in consultation with Embercombe on an individual basis.
3. In the case of ‘closed’ courses travel arrangements to be agreed with the visiting organisation’s administrative function.
4. All staff are fully supportive of Embercombe’s position regarding the practical implementation of environmental sustainability and consider it as essential to the project’s integrity.

Monitoring & review
1. Each course will be monitored and reviewed by the Embercombe management team on an on-going basis.
2. We propose submitting to the council (and any other interested party) our results against target on a twice-yearly basis.
3. The Board of trustees will undertake an annual review of the travel plan – plan implementation and practice against target.

Dissemination
- Included within the Embercombe website will be information related to our progress in implementing the travel plan to target.
- Included within our ‘Friends of Embercombe’ newsletter will be information related to our progress in implementing the travel plan to target.
- Within both the website and the newsletter our commitment to the travel plan, and our broader values/commitments, will always be explicitly evident.

Partnerships
Devon County Council are committed to sustainable travel and from time to time initiate a number of campaigns to highlight green travel. For example in September 2006 DCC promoted Devon Car Free Day and asked companies to take part. Embercombe will be an enthusiastic partner for any initiatives of this kind.

We are also keen to promote best practice in sustainable travel to other organisations, and will share our experience with other interested parties.