Team Modeshift Honorary Membership – Spotlight
We asked Honorary Member Steve Wigley, Principal Officer – Road Safety, Sustainable Transport at East Riding of Yorkshire Council a few questions to get to know him better.
Each year, we recognise a number of members that been involved in supporting and sharing best practice or volunteering for Modeshift and support our objectives by granting Team Modeshift Honorary Membership status.
We asked Honorary Member Steve Wrigley a few questions to get to know him better:
Place of work:
East Riding of Yorkshire Council
What is your role within your organisation?
Principal Officer directly managing the Sustainable Transport Team
How long have you been working in this industry?
I first started working within active/sustainable travel back in 2012 when I started working for East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s Road Safety Team. 11 years on and it’s never been as important or enjoyable.
When did your Team Modeshift journey begin?
As soon as I started my role within Road Safety all those years back, it was an integral part of the engagement work we were carrying out within schools to introduce them to the wonders of Modeishift STARS and their journey gaining accreditation. I still remember the vast amount a paperwork and those huge thick folders we used to evidence all the work in back then.
Why do you believe it is important to promote active and sustainable travel?
It’s so important for our towns, our cities and our country that we reduce the dependency on the car and the impact they are having, not only in terms of the environment but also to the safety of all road users, particularly on those local, shorter journeys. Encouraging real viable alternatives to travel more actively and making them a viable option is hugely important to all our communities and those who live and work within them.
What’s next, how do you plan on getting there, and by when?
The future looks incredibly exciting for the team. We are making really great progress with secondary school engagement which is something we want to elevate moving forward. In addition, and in the coming years we are also looking to expand our business engagement work which is a relatively new area for us and each year we also hope to continue to launch and adopt further school streets scheme. As always we hope that the Government continues to see the impotence of such work and funds it appropriately as a key area of commitment.
Team Modeshift Honorary Membership is a lifetime title that is granted to individuals that have made an outstanding contribution to the development and expansion of the organisation, and/or the implementation of its aims and objectives. Their contributions locally, regionally and nationally over a significant period of time will have played some part in raising the profile of our shared objectives and ensured that the work of Modeshift is recognised by others outside of their respective organisation.
New members will be announced at our 2023 AGM.
