The Provision of School and Workplace Sustainable Transport Engagement Services

The Isle of Wight Council is seeking a supplier or suppliers to deliver school and workplace sustainable transport engagement programmes to defined target markets on the Isle of Wight. The commission will commence in September 2017 for a duration of 30 months.
The appointed suppler or suppliers will work with the Isle of Wight Council and its partners to continue to transform travel on the Isle of Wight through the promotion of sustainable and active modes.

LOT 1: School Engagement
Context
The Isle of Wight Local Authority has a 2-tier system of schools with 49 local authority maintained schools or academies, proving full time education to circa 16500 young people. The volume of schools by type are as follows:
• 41 primary schools (for pupils aged 4 to 11);
• 6 secondary schools (for pupils aged 11 to 19);
• 2 special educational needs schools (for pupils aged 4 to 11 and 11 upwards).

School engagement has been a key focus of previous sustainable transport investment programmes on the Isle of Wight, and interventions have been welcomed by schools and pupils. Sustrans was commissioned to support the implementation of the education elements of the Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF2, 15/16) and Sustainable Travel Transition Year (STTY, 16/17) programmes, and an independent evaluation of outcomes concluded that during 15/16, the programme generated an 130,895 cycling trips 134,531 and walking trips.
Interventions delivered to schools through the LSTF2 and STTY programmes have been designed to encourage schools to adopt and embed sustainable transport best practice; the majority of schools have developed School Travel Action Plans and/or participated in a sustainable transport school accreditation programme. This approach ensures that schools are committed to measures which promote sustainable travel, and also allows schools to take ownership of sustainable transport interventions going forward.
The School Engagement Programme over the Access Fund will continue to deliver interventions to all Island Schools, through events, training and challenges, complementing the separately funded Bikeability cycling skills programme.

LOT 2: Workplace Engagement
Context
The Isle of Wight has an economy which performs below the average for wider Solent LEP and South East areas as a whole. Whilst overall productivity, measured as GVA per head, has been growing relative to national and regional trends on the Isle of Wight, this is from a much lower base. 90.2% of economically active Island residents are employed in jobs which are based on the Island. Only 5% of jobs on the Island are taken up by non-residents, indicating a residence based self-containment level of 95%. Cross Solent connectively has been identified as a barrier to growth, and whilst discounted ferry travel is available to jobseekers, the cost of ferry travel for regular commuting is a barrier to connectivity. 86% of the population live in rural areas or larger market towns and the Island meets the Rural-80 definition under the LA Classification (DEFRA 2005); the highest category of rural isolation
Many employees are mainly based in the Medina Valley (between Cowes and Newport) and there is strong planning policy approach towards facilitating sustainable employment provision within the Medina Valley area, as set out in SP3 (Economy), DM8 (Economic Development), and DM18 (Sustainable Travel) policies within the Core Strategy. Newport, which is the hub of the Islands road network, is identified in the Local Transport Plan as one of the Islands congestion hot spots; 80% of private car journeys entering Newport are single occupancy. Although not an Air Quality Management Area, nitrogen dioxide recordings taken in central Newport are well above the average recordings taken at other locations on the Island. At the northern end of the Medina Valley, Cowes is a key Island access and departure point for cross Solent travelers using ferry services.
The Workplace Engagement Programme during the Access Fund will deliver high level inspirational marketing activities to 30,000 Island employees.