Get Down to Town at the Modeshift Convention

Attending the Modeshift Convention is always a big highlight for us at Brightwayz and this year I had the opportunity to present too. So I chose two themes I really care about - practical actions to promote active travel combined with a focus on improving town centres. Then sprinkled in a mix of real people with positive real stories to show what’s possible.

Those of us at the Modeshift convention had a wealth of presentations to choose from aligning with the theme of ‘changing the narrative’. There was a strong storytelling approach and we were all challenged to consider ‘what is your why?’ - the deep rooted reason why we work in this sector. For me it is the face-to-face work we do enabling people to travel in active ways and seeing the difference it makes to their daily lives. 

Get Down to Town - Travel Stories from Kettering at the Modeshift Convention

Most of our in-person activities at Brightwayz are in or around Kettering as it is our nearest town.  I describe it as being ‘45 minutes on the train going north from London St Pancras’. But if you like a mind-boggling, challenging description:  we are based in the South East Midlands in North Northants, just up from West Northants. Yes we really can fit in all points of the compass when describing our location!

Historically our town is well-known for its shoe industry. But it is also the home of Weetabix and comedian James Acaster. Our former MP once referred to Kettering as ‘the most average town in the UK’ - not great praise from him but at least it’s not negative. Personally I really like living here. Also being ‘average’ means we are an excellent base for providing examples, case studies or trialing ideas that could be applied to other similar towns across the UK.

The Thing About Towns

Cities obviously have a lot more people, are densely populated and need good transport infrastructure - buses, cycle lanes, safe crossings etc. So the bulk of active travel investment goes there. Whereas ‘town’ counties such as North Northants (which has no cities) have suffered from underinvestment for years. 

Nearly 70,000 people live in the Kettering urban area - no more than three miles from the centre. However only around 1% of Ketteringers cycle to work. With investment in safe infrastructure and supporting active travel initiatives this could be so much more. We don’t have many big hills and e-bikes address this barrier anyway. There is so much potential. 

Get Down to Town Kettering

Our ongoing Get Down to Town project focuses on improving travel choices for people coming to Kettering town centre. It includes a huge range of practical activities and events to promote and enable active travel and we work with a wide range of community organisations, businesses, schools and members of the public. 

Resources such as the Healthy Streets tool (which we first heard about at another Modeshift conference years ago) proved invaluable in helping us observe and document our findings around the health aspects of street design, layout, maintenance and most importantly how people interact with them and use them (or don’t!).

Travel Stories at the Modeshift Conference - Which Trips Could You Switch?

One of the best ways to demonstrate that ‘people want active travel infrastructure’ is to highlight personal stories - which can reflect both the positive and more challenging aspects. The Modeshift Conference was a chance for us to share some of the local Kettering travel stories we have documented as part of Get Down to Town. We created a ‘Which Trips Could You Switch?’ video and blog series which included stories from people who cycle, walk, e-scoot, wheel (use a power chair) and even skateboard as a mode of travel around Kettering.

From the Walking Bus to Westminster

Brightwayz - originally Brightkidz - was inspired over 21 years ago after we set up our own local ‘walking bus’ and realised there was a need for more information and supporting resources for walk to school schemes. Little did we know that one of the children who regularly joined our walking bus, 8 year old Rosie Wrighting, would two decades later become our local Member of Parliament and be presenting our local Hospital the first ‘Healthcare Setting of the Year’ at the March Modeshift National Travel Awards. It just goes to show - the children you work with now and help shape their habits and outlooks are the leaders of the future. 

Evolving the Narrative at the Modeshift Conference

So some final conclusions I left with the audience at our Brightwayz presentation for delivering effective active travel campaigns:

Be on the inside - and if you aren’t there find local social enterprises or community organisations who you can work with.  If you are part of a community you can harness support, find champions and be stronger. The groups we worked with of all ages and backgrounds brought the magic to our Get Down to Town project.

Invest in active travel for towns - historically under-invested in, so huge potential for great progress - but people need to feel safe.

Inspire children - with active travel. They could grow up to have real influence (even become your MP!).

Make use of innovative resources - check out the Brightwayz range of active travel resources as they are great (well, I would say that, wouldn’t I!)

Here at Brightwayz social enterprise we love to provide information and tips to help you, your colleagues, friends and family travel in safe, active, sustainable ways for everyday journeys.

Our unique range of products is here to help support your active travel campaigns and 100% of profits from sales is ploughed back to support the work we do. Take a look at our range here and find something to help you inspire others to travel in good ways.

If you are looking for general promotional products check out our Brightwayz Green Promo range.