Travel Plan Case Study: Oakfield, Swindon

Following Oakfield Swindon’s recent achievement of a ‘Very Good’ Modeshift STARS Residential Accreditation, we are sharing a detailed case study outlining the site’s initiatives. This case study provides insights into the strategies and activities that contributed to the accreditation.

Development Overview

Oakfield is Nationwide’s first housing scheme, a development of 239 intergenerational mixed tenure homes in its hometown of Swindon. Oakfield was a brownfield site at Marlowe Avenue in Swindon once occupied by the Oakfield School and a University of Bath campus which had been unused and closed to the public for some time.

Working with local communities and Swindon Borough Council, Nationwide wanted to demonstrate a mutual approach to house building creating sustainable, well-designed homes and public spaces, within a thriving community.

Holistic, long-term sustainability is at the heart of Nationwide strategy at Oakfield as so were keen for the travel plan to be a success.

As part of the S106 agreement, the developer signed up to the travel plan contribution for Swindon Borough Council to resource the travel plan, and implementation of the residential travel plan (RTP) started under the banner of Swindon Travel Choices.

Swindon Travel Choices have assigned a dedicated resource to be the face of the travel plan on the development, which adds to the successful implementation.

Developer: Nationwide
Planning Application: 2019
First Occupation: Summer 2023
Size of development: 239 dwellings over two phases

Travel plan elements

The RTP commits to the following:

Engagement Events
Held twice a year, events for residents piggy back national themes such as ‘Bike Week’ or ‘Walking month’ and offer roadshows, led bike rides or walks etc.  Whilst the site is still building out, the events are part of wider community events, such as the Buckhurst Fun Day, held on the green open space opposite the site.  The events are used as opportunities to engage residents, increase uptake of the offers and address any questions or concerns they have regarding sustainable travel.

Travel Information Packs
The Travel Information Packs are given to every household as new occupants move in.  The packs include details of free bus and rail taster tickets, the borrow a bike scheme, plus hard copies of resources such as Swindon cycle maps, the Get Walking magazine and bus timetables for the area.  There is also an overview booklet and free pen and bus ticket wallet. Everything is presented in a reusable document bag.

Car Club
‘Co Wheels’ were procured to provide a car club car in time for first occupation, and the developers provided a dedicated parking space in a visible location.  To help with the viability of the car club, 5000 homes within a ten-minute walk of the car were hit with a leaflet campaign containing sign up offers and driving credit.

Engaging Sales Staff
Time is set aside to liaise with sales office staff and ensure they are aware of the travel plan, the information packs and the incentives available to new residents.

Cycle Incentives
There is a ‘borrow a bike scheme’ available to residents for them to have free use of a bike for up to six weeks to see whether a bike would help them get around.  The scheme has folding bikes, electric bikes as well as ladies and gents hybrid cycles.  Child trailers can also be borrowed, and bikes come equipped with lights, locks, pannier bags and optional helmets.

Local family run bike shop, Mitchell Cycles, offer 10% off any purchases of new bikes, clothing and accessories for Oakfield residents.  The flyers with the offer are in the travel information packs.

British Cycling’s ‘Let’s Ride’ programme utilises the good traffic free cycle infrastructure in the area, and provides regular guided rides that residents can join.

Bus and rail incentives
Free bus taster tickets are offered to each household, tailored to the individuals that may want to use them.  Residents fill in a survey about who needs the bus travel (adults / children / pensioners) and whether this is for ad hoc journeys or a block of time.  Tickets or passes are then sent to the household.

New occupants are also offered a £20 digital voucher off any Great Western Railway train journey.  This can be redeemed against any journey – leisure of commuting to enable residents to try out the train service from Swindon.

Web information

A dedicated section of the Swindon Travel Choices website has been created especially for the new residents at Oakfield.  The site – whilst basic – takes people to quick links to download the information in their household information pack, and makes announcements.

Working group

A working group has been established to meet every six months and discuss progress, issues and successes. The group comprises the developer, the travel plan co-ordinator, and the car club operator. In the future, a resident will be invited to join, along with any management company that have been appointed.

Monitoring
The travel plan is being monitored by the travel plan co-ordinator and a monitoring report submitted to the developer and highway authority annually.  This report gives an update on progress made with the elements outlined above.  A modal survey will be carried out online annually, with the baseline survey taking place one year after the first occupation.

The baseline survey was undertaken in September 2024.  Postcards were pushed through every occupied dwelling inviting residents to go online to complete a short survey.  A prize draw incentive of £100 was used to try and increase response rates.

The survey revealed a low level of trips undertaken by solo occupancy car (25%) so the target is to retain this low base as the development grows.  The survey also revealed an appetite for more information about electric vehicles, maps, walks and bike rides to get to know the local area better. These results will shape travel plan activity going forward.

Infrastructure

The development is connected to the town centre by two high frequency bus routes, and The ‘Eastern Flyer’ – a 2-mile traffic free cycle route connects the development to both the town centre and the Greenbridge retail park and a large Sainsburys supermarket.

Each dwelling has a ‘bike bin’ in the garden, which can house the family’s bikes and keep them safe and out of the elements.

A car club was introduced to the site upon first occupation, which is achieving up to 21% utilisation.  At time of writing, the electric charging infrastructure is being finalised, which will enable Co Wheels to replace the Hybrid car with a battery electric vehicle.

Successes

A year on since first occupation, the travel plan at Oakfield is deemed to be a success so far.  The success is helped by the sustainable location, with good active travel connections to nearby facilities, and complementary on-site infrastructure.

Other factors for success include;

Dedicated resource
A committed individual is the public face of the travel plan and works hard to embed a sustainable travel culture in the development.  The role is funded through the S106 agreement, so will continue throughout the development build out and for at least 5 years beyond.

Good communication
At the heart of the travel plan is good communication with the sales staff, the residents, the working group, and liaison with the local authority and stakeholders, such as the car club operator, parish council, local bike shops and cycling campaign group.

Adaptation
The travel plan adapts to maximise opportunities.  The take up of schemes is monitored, and when it was found to be low, the travel plan co-ordinator put on highly visible events and undertook more promotion via website and social media to ensure the residents were made aware of the offers.

For more information on Modeshift STARS Residential visit: Residential – Modeshift STARS