Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
an exact answer to each question in order to directly compare different interviews.
However, in this research, our purpose was to investigate the reasons behind the
urban freight problem, for which it was necessary to ask questions of a more open-
ended nature.
The interviewees were selected through both existing contacts with LA's and
the freight industry, as well as through methods such as cold-calls, emails, and
letters targeted at LA's and the freight transport industry operating in in urban
areas. In addition, established freight networks and partnerships such as Freight
Quality Partnerships (FQP's) were used to reach prospective participants in the
UK and Sweden; whereas in Germany, Poland and Lithuania, the interviewees
were recruited through the local authorities (both for local authority and freight
stakeholder interviewees) in specific cities with the support of the EU project on
Sustainable Urban Transport Plans (SUTP) (BUSTRIP project,
2005-2008
).
Interview questions were grouped under two main themes, firstly general per-
ceptions of urban freight, and secondly the relationships between LA's and the
freight industry. Questions under the first theme aimed to determine perceptions on
the following: the importance of freight in the urban economy, the extent to which
local politicians and the general public recognise the role of urban freight, and the
nature of urban freight problems.
The second theme examined aspects of relationships and interactions between
the freight industry and policy makers, which included: the level of involvement
between local authorities and the freight industry (willingness of both parties to
interact with each other), and suggested ways for the freight industry to become
more engaged in policy planning.
The following sections present the results from the interviews accompanied by
a comparative analysis between findings from the UK and those from Sweden and
the Baltic Sea countries.
4 Local Authorities' Consideration of Urban Freight
Transport
In the UK, there was a general consensus amongst the majority transport planners
interviewed that they ''don't have much expertise on freight to be honest'', which
they in part attribute to the local authorities being ''light on staff and technical
expertise'' to develop ideas, but also a lack of financial resources to subcontract the
work to the private sector. The majority of local authorities interviewed admitted
relying upon private sector consultants to conduct freight related scoping studies
and to produce reports to support their Local Transport Plan's and City Region
Transport Strategies. Other authorities displayed a tendency to lean upon a
neighbouring authority for guidance from one individual with some background in
freight, or on a regional transport strategy team that has people within it that have a
specific responsibility for freight. Only three of the LA's interviewed expressed
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