| Summary: | The communication gap between local authorities and freight operators has long been acknowledged as a research problem. Such a gap is problematic because of a lack of data and understanding about freight movements in most local authorities, which leads to the design of sub-optimal policies for freight. Hence policies and or interventions designed to address particular problems may in fact result in unforeseen new issues with resulting negative environmental impacts. Although these problems have been well identified in academic research relatively few attempts have been made to understand them and think of new ways to approach addressing them. This thesis makes a distinctive contribution through new empirical research and the development of new methodological tools to help overcome the communication gap. This thesis describes interviews with twenty-two urban freight stakeholders, namely local authority and freight operator representatives. In addition, it draws on decision analysis theory and techniques, and utilises elements of the Nominal Group Technique, Positional Analysis and focus groups to create an interactive, facilitated workshop method to foster improved freight stakeholder engagement. Three facilitated workshops were held in different locations around England to understand the effectiveness of this method. The interviews and initial stages of the workshop show a divergence of opinion between the two groups of stakeholders on what the most effective and desirable policy solutions are. However, the workshop format also provided a means to debate differences, identify solutions that had support across the board, and to put new solutions on the table for one or other group. The evaluation exercises from the workshop showed support for this type of method as a means of engagement as it provided a focus around potential implementation. Comparison with existing means of engagement such as Freight Quality Partnerships suggests this to be a more dynamic and purposeful form of engagement, at least in the short term. In addition, since these solutions are the result of joint participation between local authority and private sector freight stakeholders it would seem that they would be likely to receive fewer objections if carried forward to the consultation stage of policy implementation.
|
|---|
