A30 Encouraging active travel to tackle health deprivation in Thurrock communities

Abstract

Abstract Background The Borough of Thurrock, located in the South East of the UK is one of the most deprived municipalities in the country, despite being only a half hour train journey from London. Personal Travel Planning (PTP) was delivered to nearly every household in Thurrock over the past three-years. Each year, one third of the Borough was targeted for a door-to-door intervention and evaluated for evidence of mode shift towards more sustainable travel. Each year mode shift has been evidenced but in the final year, the eastern part of the Borough was targeted and found to have low car ownership and high deprivation and health inequalities, with a high proportion of elderly and disabled people, and high childhood obesity rates. This is not a typical audience for a PTP programme to create mode shift away from car trips, so some modifications to the approach would be required for it to be effective. Approach described To tailor the intervention to this audience’s needs, we identified an opportunity to intensify promotion of active travel options rather than a shift from car use as such. The result was a 27% increase in walking trips amongst participants, and a 4% increase in walking mode share (based on before and after surveys of travel habits). There was also evidence that some people drastically increased how often they walk, from walking never or very infrequently to walking every day. • This presentation covers two methods used to deliver these Results: Personal Travel Planning using Motivational Interviewing techniques from the health sector • ‘Beat the Street’, a community game to encourage walking, joint-funded with Public Health Structure of presentation The presentation will use multiple sources of evidence including quantitative evaluation tools and qualitative feedback and case studies, and cover the following key points: Background to the Travel Thurrock project, key objectives and challenges • Tailoring the programme to East Thurrock’s unique challenges following two successful years of modal shift from car trips to sustainable modes • Using Motivational Interviewing techniques to deliver mode shift to active travel, and how this is different from typical PTP programmes • Beat the Street and targeting the latent potential for active travel to school • Results, lessons learnt and practical applications for other interventions