Our solution requires strong political and social support in order for it to be implemented in a successful way. The UK's government's sustainable development program aims to provide the financial and legal backing to allow for schemes, such as 'Travelator', to be implemented into highly populated areas, as a means of encouraging the development of 'greener cities and communities'. On the 23rd of February 2010, it was announced that a further £5.5 million would be provided for the East of England by the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund), we hope that this will be extended to the North of England, to supply our scheme with the financial support it requires. We hope that 'Travelator' will qualify for funding from the introduction of a £7 million grant scheme that will facilitate the exchanging of new commercial ideas between businesses and academic institutions. This will aid the reduction of carbon emissions in the UK from educational institutions. The ERDF want to aid the setting up of small scale schemes to test whether they would be successful in larger scale areas as methods of reducing carbon footprints.
Furthermore, the University of Manchester has begun to implement its own 'Green Travel Plan'. The introduction of this plan began in 2000, and has worked to encourage the use of cycling and walking as a means of students travelling to and from university. The university's commitment to sustainable development and the need to address transport and car parking issues are a major part of takling the university's carbon footprint.
The University is working alongside the local government to provide £400,000 worth of work on the pedestrian routes near the university as a means of encouraging students to walk and cycle. We hope that our scheme would be provided with some financial backing from these funds. Eventually, the travelator systems would become self-sufficient and would most likely provide excess solar energy that could be utilised by the university buildings as another energy source.
In order for our scheme to be introduced successfully, the university and local government, along with the UKSD financiers (the EDRF), must work in unison to implement the travelators within Oxford Road. We hope that if we can receive financial and legal support from these groups and if the scheme proves to be successful, then similar systems could be introduced into other universities, and then possibly utilised in other areas of the city. If this were to happen, the carbon emissions of the whole country may be significantly reduced. We believe that this proposal could drastically alter the urban landscape within which we live. This may cause some controversy among the residents that live near Oxford Road. We understand that the streetscape will be drastically altered by the travelators. In order to counteract this issue, we want to work alongside the community, educating them on the issues surrounding climate change and how our scheme may combat such imminent problems.
