An overview of Transport Scotland’s switched on towns and cities challenge fund programme
The Transport Scotland switched on towns and cities challenge fund programme highlighted the effectiveness of partnerships between the local authority project leaders and community organisations, such as the NHS or higher and further education establishments.
In our discussions with them, project leaders commented on how the effective partnerships between the local authority and delivery partners enhanced their projects. In the case of Dundee’s community partner working group – the ‘Dundee partnership’, much of the delivery of vehicles and chargepoint installations has been managed directly by the partners. In this case the NHS, University of Dundee, and Dundee and Angus College. Falkirk and Stirling also highlighted a similar relationship with NHS colleagues.
It was acknowledged that the project partner organisations receiving funding for installations on larger complex sites would have the greatest insight on what would work for their organisation. Having mechanisms for them to share this knowledge and providing them with an element of project ownership and control at their sites, continually strengthened relationships between all partners. Project leaders at Falkirk commented that this has created opportunities for further collaboration with NHS partners.
Pooling resources has also allowed some organisations to integrate sustainable transport within their projects, for instance by co-locating chargepoints and ebike stations.
