Encouraging sustainable travel in Northstowe One of Greenbelt’s mantras is “Planet Matters”, with sustainability a very important element of this ethos. So we were delighted to partner with the MRC Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge on an exciting research project at our Northstowe development. The aim of the study is to explore whether financial incentives encourage residents to travel sustainably in order to benefit their health and the local environment. For example, to inspire residents to reduce the number of cars they own, Greenbelt worked with researchers to offer a reduced or waived the Annual Management Charge (AMC) for study participants who owned fewer than two vehicles. A total of 99 residents took part in the study and the reduced AMC was given to 33 of them. In addition to Greenbelt, other partners working to deliver Public Open Space (POS) and green infrastructure in Northstowe collaborated on the study to create a whole package of incentives to encourage travel changes. These included bus travel vouchers, bicycle servicing, walking and cycling equipment vouchers and electric bike hire. The researchers also asked study participants how they travelled in October 2021 before receiving financial incentives, then 3 and 6 months afterwards, to find out whether the incentives had worked to promote active and sustainable travel. This final set of data is expected to be analysed by the Autumn. Previous article: Greenbelt achieve four new ISO Certifications Prev Next article: Greenbelt plant 70 trees in honour of Her Majesty’s Jubilee Next