LJMUAcveandSustainableTravelDelivery Plan
Foreword
A foreword from Phil Vickerman, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Student Experience and strategic lead for Liverpool John Moores University’s Climate and Sustainability Plan.
As the university’s representa ve for the LJMU Climate and Sustainability Plan on our Execu ve Leadership Team, I am proud to introduce our new Ac ve and Sustainable Travel Delivery Plan 20252030.
This plan represents our commitment to increase ac ve and sustainable travel among our staff and students over the next five years, targe ng five key themes of ac ve travel, public transport, business travel and the Sustainable Travel Policy, fleet vehicles, and private vehicles and car parking. By working across these five themes, our plan aims to reduce our scope 1 and 3 carbon emissions, improve air quality, and reduce noise pollu on and conges on within the city and wider city region; whilst simultaneously providing a number of health and wellbeing benefits for our community.
We have already started to make progress by holding cycling events in a variety of forms for both our staff and students – as well as the community – and have recently improved a number of shower and changing facili es to make ac ve travel into campus more a rac ve. We are developing strong rela onships within the City Region at a strategic level to improve safety and accessibility of ac ve travel routes onto our campus within the public realm. Furthermore, we are on track to switch our own fleet vehicles to electric or hybrid models and have installed a number of electric charging points across campus.
In the upcoming years we have a number of ac ons planned such as improving wayfinding signage within and between campuses to make ac ve travel easier; encouraging staff to follow a travel hierarchy when making business trips; and working with local travel providers to ensure sustainable public transport op ons are affordable and accessible to our staff and students. We’ll be working with strategic partners within the region to support their plans and make improvements that not only support our campus areas but provide connec vity for the wider transport network.
As a centrally placed university within Liverpool, our community has a large impact on travel within the city and wider city region. With our overarching aim to make ac ve and sustainable travel the first choice for our staff and students, I look forward to seeing how the measures included within this plan will make a posi ve contribu on to wellbeing within community, whilst suppor ng our own and Liverpool City Region’s ambi ous targets to travel on the journey to net zero.
Vision Statement
LJMU will ac vely contribute to the Ac ve and Sustainable Travel conversa on within the Liverpool City Region with the overarching aim of working towards improved wellbeing opportuni es not only for our university community, but the wider community. We will work across our campuses and community-facing infrastructure to enhance our own ac ve travel resources; we will work with regional partners to enhance ac ve travel skills within our local community; and aim to make ac ve and sustainable travel the first choice for our staff and students whilst on our journey to net zero carbon.
1. Introduc on
Our LJMU community makes up almost 2% of the Liverpool City Region (LCR) popula on and our collec ve travel therefore has a significant impact locally. In 2023, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority reported that daily ac ve travel commu ng in the region takes up to 340,000 cars off the roads every day, and that this has the poten al to prevent 60,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases annuallyi. For many of those who are unable to make their commute through ac ve travel, more sustainable travel methods such as rail or bus are available locally. By encouraging uptake of more sustainable or ac ve travel and reducing single occupancy car journeys, we can have a posi ve impact on the health of our LJMU community and will reduce localised carbon emissions, air and noise pollu on, and stress from si ng in traffic.
Arising from our Strategy 2030, this Delivery Plan has clear links to our LJMU Health and Wellbeing Plan which is built upon the three Ps of Public Health England (preven on of avoidable illness; protec on of health; and promo on of wellbeing and resilience), more specifically it aims to empower our students to make informed health and wellbeing decisions. In general, from a health and wellbeing perspec ve the Delivery Plan seeks to promote environmentally friendly travel from home to the university and enhance mobility within and between campus areas.
In 2020 LJMU declared a climate emergencyii and set up a working group to produce and deliver our Climate Ac on Plan (2022)iii With regards to ac ve and sustainable travel the LJMU Climate Ac on Plan (CAP) made commitments to:
Increase ac ve travel journeys and encourage modal shi to sustainable travel op ons.
Improve cycling infrastructure.
Baseline business and field work travel Scope 3 emissions and achieve a reduc on in emissions.
Provide comparable, low carbon travel op ons for field work travel by 2027.
Deliver our Ac ve and Sustainable Travel Delivery Plan as part of the Place and Community strand of our Civic Engagement Plan.
It is evident from our CAP that travel is a cross-cu ng issue in many areas of the university and is included across several of its key themes: Campus Management, Teaching, and Community Engagement. In rela on to travel we are producers of both Scope 1 (direct emissions e.g. fleet opera ons) and Scope 3 (indirect emissions from commu ng and business travel) carbon emissions, and we must do our part in iden fying reduc ons to these. Throughout this Ac ve and Sustainable Travel Delivery Plan we will seek to address the core travel themes across our ins tu on, whilst considering the principles of the previous LJMU Ac ve and Sustainable Travel Plan: access to opportuni es; social responsibility; influencing policy; environmental impact; and an environment in which staff and students can flourish and thrive.
We will refresh our Ac ve and Sustainable Travel Delivery Plan every five years to ensure that it is upto-date and relevant to the emerging travel mix in the LCR and for the Higher Educa on (HE) sector.
2. Our Estate and the Local Context
At present our estate is divided into two main campus areas:
Mount Pleasant comprising John Foster Building, Aquinas Building, Aldham Robarts Learning Resource Centre, John Lennon Art and Design Building (JLAD), Redmonds Building, and Student Life Building (SLB) and Sport Building at Copperas Hill.
City Campus comprising Byrom Street, Tithebarn Building and Avril Robarts Learning Resource Centre, Great Crosshall Street and Henry Co on Building.
Our campus areas are situated within a city that was not necessarily built around pedestrianisa on and enabling safe cycling routes. We have limited free space that is suitable for ac ve travel provisions without compe ng with other sustainability priori es around our estate; and a large ac ve travel disconnect between our Mount Pleasant Campus and our City Campus – more specifically Byrom Street which is separated from effec ve ac ve travel routes by exis ng local highways infrastructure, and is lacking in any close direct public transport links.
The LJMU Mount Pleasant campus is situated in the heart of the city-centre with good links to sustainable travel op ons such as the rail network and local buses – our City campus is not much further away on foot.
We have a variety of ac ve travel infrastructure across the estate including cycle storage, lockers and showering and changing facili es, all of which are detailed at the end of this Delivery Plan in Appendix A.
We are engaging with Liverpool City Council at a strategic level and are working towards being strongly posi oned as a major stakeholder with regards to the LCR plans for ac ve and sustainable travel development, not just around our campus areas, but with regards to connec vity to the wider transport network that services our LJMU community.
We regularly par cipate in stakeholder forums for ac ve and sustainable travel across the LCR such as the Ac ve Travel Stakeholder Engagement Forum (Liverpool City Council) and LCR Ac ve Travel Steering Group (LCRCA). We also engage in providing feedback for relevant ac ve travel route upgrades within and leading into our campus areas and the wider city-centre in general.
In order for the LCR to meet its Net Zero Target by 2035 there will need to be a significant shi in travel behaviours, one of LCR Combined Authority’s eight proposed core principles ‘Priori se clean, healthy travel in all that we do’ focuses on modal shi (changes in the type of transport used) rather than a cleaner version of conges on. Es mated changes in modal shi between 2025 and 2035 are as follows:
Bus journeys will need to increase by 61-82%;
Rail journeys will need to increase by 69-72%;
Ac ve travel will need to increase by 8-35%; and
Car journeys will need to decrease by 16%.
These are ambi ous targets and as an ins tu on centrally placed in the city, we must play our part in this decarbonisa on journey by encouraging our staff and students to do what they can, when they can.
3. Our Approach
We expect all staff and students undertaking travel on behalf of or with the university to consider applying the travel hierarchy (see Figure 1) to their journey and selec ng the most sustainable feasible op on for them when booking through our travel agents – our policy is explained further under Theme 3: Business Travel and the Sustainable Travel Policy. We also encourage staff and students to opt for the most sustainable commu ng op on available to them and their personal circumstances.
MostSustainable
WalkingandWheeling
Cycling
E-bikesandE-scooters
RemoteNationalNetworking
PublicandSharedTransport
ElectricVehiclesandCarSharing
PrivateVehicles
AirTravel
LeastSustainable
Figure 1 - Sustainable Travel Hierarchy detailing the most sustainable op on to the least sustainable op on as follows: walking and wheeling, cycling, e-bikes and e-scooters, remote na onal networking, public and shared transport, electric vehicles and car sharing, private vehicles, and air travel. Source: Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (2024).
On average the carbon emissions in Table 1 are associated to common modes of transportiv; there are addi onal embodied carbon emissions associated with all modes of transport, depending on vehicle models, equipment choices and dietary choices. For example, a single occupancy SUV journey can have a higher emissions ra ng than an inland UK flight.
In our mission to support the development of a healthier, cleaner Liverpool, we have considered what travel targets are feasible for our ins tu on, that our staff and our students can work towards.
With this in mind, our ac ve and sustainable travel workstreams can be broken down into five key themes.
Ac ve Travel;
Public Transport;
Business Travel and the Sustainable Travel Policy;
Fleet Vehicles; and
Private Vehicles and Car Parking.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Performance Indicators (PIs) are detailed for each under the relevant theme. The delivery of performance indicators can be found in greater detail in Appendix B.
Success and Progress
•Fleetdecarbonisationpathwaybegins.
•Carparkingallocationrefreshed.
2022/23
2023/24
2024/25
•StaffTravelSurveyhada15%responserate.
•ImprovedshowerandchangingfacilitiesinstalledatJohnFosterBuildingand theSecurityLodge.
•Fournewbikemaintenancestationsinstalledacrosstheestate.
•EVchargingcapacityincreasedto24chargingpoints.
•PartneredwithCyclingUKtoimprovecyclingskillsinthelocalcommunity.
•MonthlyDrBikesandledrides.
•Learntofixandlearntorideevents.
•Wayfindingimprovementsplannedacrosstheestate.
•OnepubliclyavailableDrBikeeachsemester.
•HenryCottonshowerandchangingrefurbishment,coming2027.
2025/26 onwards
•Fleetdecarbonisationprogresses.
Theme 1: Ac ve Travel
Ac ve travel in an urban context generally covers modes of transport such as walking, cycling and wheeling, which can be great ways to fit physical ac vity into our daily lives, reduce transport costs and reduce our carbon footprints. Ac ve travel is known to have wide ranging health benefits, which is why LJMU offers a Cycle to Work Scheme for our employees up to £2,000 via salary sacrifice. At LJMU we want to enable a culture of walking, wheeling and cycling as a primary mode of transport between our campus areas and around the city in general, Table 2 below provides details on es mated ac ve travel journey mes between key areas of campus.
In our 2024 travel survey we iden fied that 12% of staff walk to work as their only form of transport, averaging 1-4 miles each way. Around 6% of our staff cycle to work as a part of or all of their journey with the greatest distance being a 54-mile round trip. We es mate that around 42% of our students walk to campus, however, this is likely to be higher as a large propor on of our student popula on live within a mile of Mount Pleasant or City Campus.
The key barriers to taking up an ac ve travel commute for both staff and students were primarily unmanageable distances and safety concerns. Staff also cited access to showering and changing facili es; students were concerned about the cost of equipment.
Wayfinding and Campus Signage
In 2024/25, we have commi ed to undertaking a wayfinding audit across our campus areas, in rela on to ac ve travel this is specific to helping our staff and students find their way around campus more easily, and to help them to iden fy the best ac ve travel routes and provisions for them around various campus areas including cycle storage, showers, changing rooms and lockers.
The audit will inform improvements to wayfinding and campus signage that will be implemented by 2025/26.
Community
During the academic year we are hos ng a number of ac vi es every month around the theme of ac ve travel in order to promote a sense of community around this vital health and wellbeing tool. These events are currently delivered formally through our Ac ve and Sustainable Travel workstream (cycling events) or more broadly through our Staff Health and Wellbeing workstream (walking events). We’re working towards expanding our ac ve travel events to all staff and students, with mixed-audience Health and Wellbeing events being trialled in 2025/26.
All our cycling events are adver sed via our Sustainability Events webpage and on a dedicated ‘Spond’ app group to allow our staff and students to book on and get updates on any last-minute changes, for example due to bad weather. We are looking at how we can also u lise this pla orm for walking events that have historically been separate staff and student events.
Table 2 – Average walking and cycling mes between campus areas (source: Google maps, 2024)
Safety First
We want to provide our staff and students with the skills to feel confident and safe when cycling. Since 2024 we have been offering cycle skills classes to enable our staff and students to learn to ride a bicycle, become confident cycling on our local roads, and learn how to do basic bike maintenance. We have installed four bicycle repairs sta ons across our main campus areas, and we provided good quality pocket toolkits for our repair class a endees so that they can maintain their bicycles on the go.
For academic year 2024/25 we are trialling running a monthly free Dr Bike clinic at different loca ons around our campus areas in order to gauge where and when there is demand for the clinics so that we can provide them where they are needed most. At least once a semester the Dr Bike clinic will be run outside our Student Life Building and will be available to members of the public who are passingby our Copperas Hill site. We are also trialling a monthly led bike ride to help our staff and students find their way around Liverpool, build confidence on the road, get some exercise, and do some socialising.
With regards to improving safety for walking we are limited to implemen ng measures to ensure people are and feel safe and seen on campus. We will review these requirements during any enhancements to the estate, with the aim of ensuring it is built into design prac ces. We are ac vely working with Liverpool City Council to ensure improved provision of pedestrian crossings in the vicinity of our campus areas to enable our community to access our sites safely.
Our Cycle Stands
Across our campus areas we currently have three types of cycle stand designs: Sheffield stands, dloop and two- er racks, with the vast majority being Sheffield stands. We do not currently have any bespoke accessible cycle spaces; however, we have noted in Appendix A where our current provision has sufficient room and manoeuvrability to allow parking of an accessible cycle op on. Our accessible provision at present largely comprises the end stands on rows of tradi onal Sheffield stands.
Changing
and Showering Facilities
We plan to upgrade our showering and changing facili es as appropriate when we’re comple ng nearby major refurbishments.
In the mean me, we will con nue to monitor our facili es and implement improvements as required and will work towards understanding the demand for various types of ac ve travel provision and their required distribu on across our estate
Commitments
We will improve active travel infrastructure on our estate by:
Setting bespoke proportional targets active travel hubs for relevant new build and major refurbishment projects in keeping with our Sustainable Construction Procedure.
Conducting regular reviews of cycle parking demand.
Conduct annual reviews of cycle storage facili es and remove discarded cycles that block parking spaces.
Conducting regular reviews of our showering facilities in order to provide good quality facilities.
Providing good quality shared facili es at our larger building clusters such as at Byrom Street and the John Foster quad:
Conduc ng studies to determine capacity requirements for standalone buildings and providing facili es on a needs basis.
We will empower our staff and students to confidently make active travel choices by:
Providing regular opportunities for them to keep their cycles safely maintained.
Providing regular opportunities for non-cyclists or returner cyclists to improve their cycling skills with a qualified instructor.
Providing regular opportunities for them to learn cycle maintenance skills with an instructor.
Providing regular opportunities for them to ride around Liverpool with a qualified ride leader.
Providing regular opportunities to meet others who prefer walking and wheeling as their form of active travel (rather than cycling).
Identifying EDI-specific active travel projects that improve accessibility for those using nonstandard cycles.
We will engage with our community to improve active travel provision in Liverpool by:
Working to influence Liverpool City Council and LCR Combined Authority to fulfil the ambi on of moving towards a city that is safe for ac ve travel and that offers a reliable and affordable public transport network.
Understanding our student and staff movements around the city so that we can improve our wellbeing offering and provide more detailed consulta on feedback on the most impac ul ac ve travel route upgrades in the City Region.
Targets
Set active travel targets on all relevant capital and major refurbishment projects via our Sustainable Construction Procedure.
Improving cycle storage, showering, and signposting of active travel provisions across all our campus areas by 2027/2028 and review the potential to improve accessibility for nonstandard cycle users proportionate to demand.
Continue to provide safety enhancement activities through the provision of regular Dr Bike sessions, learner and improver classes, led rides and maintenance classes proportionate to demand.
Con nue to provide reduced-price, high-quality bike locks (with improved resistance to the ) to all our staff and students and explore the provision of light-weight op ons with our Cycleto-Work provider.
Con nue to offer our Cycle to Work scheme and keep it relevant to emerging cycle market changes as appropriate.
Explore opportuni es for a community cycling hub via emerging partnership opportuni es within the LCR by 2026/2027.
Improve wayfinding around our campus areas to highlight ac ve travel facili es, including upda ng the ‘ge ng here’ sec on of our website to provide up to date details on where our ac ve travel facili es are, their types and the capacity at each site
Assess the capacity for providing drying facili es and the most appropriate types for each context.
Provide opportuni es for walking and wheeling as an ac ve travel event.
Improve our wellbeing offering around ac va on and achieve Healthy Campus status by 2026/27.
Theme 2: Public Transport
Based in the heart of the city, many of our campus areas are well connected to the wider LCR and beyond. We acknowledge that our Byrom Street campus area is not well-serviced by public transport and this needs to change.
Our local rail facili es keep us well connected to the LCR and the rest of the UK – you can be at our Mount Pleasant campus within two minutes of leaving Lime Street or Central Sta on, and City Campus within 15 minutes (5 minutes if you use the Merseyrail at Moorfields Sta on). Generally speaking Liverpool Central Sta on services the LCR and Cheshire, whereas Liverpool Lime Street covers mainline services to other ci es and larger towns within the mainland UK.
The local Merseyrail network services the LCR and local connec ons to some surrounding towns and ci es such as Chester (Cheshire) and Ormskirk (West Lancashire) – our local sta ons are the undergrounds at Moorfields, Central and Lime Street.
For those who prefer taking the boat, Liverpool has a ferry terminal with daily crossings to the Wirral, Northern Ireland, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
In our 2024 travel survey we found that 48% of staff take public transport for all or part of their commute to LJMU; for students we es mated that around 20% take public transport to campus, and many of these are largely commuter students from the wider LCR and north-west.
Key barriers to taking public transport were considered to be cost, metabling not being compa ble with the person’s schedule, and that the person’s journey me would increase significantly if they were to take public transport.
Season Ticket Loan
We know from historic stakeholder engagement that although the cost of public transport is not the main demo vator for our staff, increases in cost can be discouraging; and our recent travel survey showed that cost is s ll a big concern. Therefore, to keep public transport costs affordable, we offer our staff the opportunity to purchase an interest-free annual season cket loan using monthly repayments, up to £2,500 at the me of wri ng. Annual season ckets above this value can s ll be purchased but will need to be part subsidised by the individual.
We don’t currently have any discount schemes in place for our students and we will look at addressing their access to affordable public transport throughout the dura on of this plan. Also, in a me when hybrid working is prevalent it is key that we address affordability for our staff who would not benefit from the discounts associated with season ckets
Commitments
We will support our staff in accessing affordable public transport options by:
Continuing to provide a season ticket loan via our salary sacrifice scheme.
Working with local transport partners to explore other discounted ticket options for our staff that do not rely on a season ticket commitment.
Encouraging the provision of a more robust local public transport offering that supports sustainable transport choices for all local staff and students.
We will support our students in accessing affordable public transport options by:
Working with local transport partners to get a fair and practical pricing structure for sustainable travel for our commuting students by 2026/2027
Working with LCRCA and local transport partners to provide a more affordable season-ticket payment schedule for our students.
Working with Merseyrail to provide a reduced-price student ticket option for the morning rail commute.
Targets
Uphold staff season- cket loans via a salary sacrifice arrangement.
Steer local transport providers, Liverpool City Council and LCR Combined Authority to improve relevant transport links, public transport routes in less serviced areas, and timetabling to enable Liverpool’s workers to have better public transport choices by 2030.
Work with local transport providers to ensure that our staff and students have the op on of only paying for what seasonal travel they need in a way that does not financially disadvantage them by 2026/2027.
Work with Merseyrail to instate an LJMU reduced price ticket option by 2026/27 so that our commuter students can overcome the barrier of their railcard not being permitted before 10:00am.
Work with Merseyrail to negotiate a non-season ticket discount for our commuting staff members by 2026/27.
Theme 3: Business Travel and the Sustainable Travel Policy
We currently source our business travel through four travel firms and our student field trips via a further two travel firms that specialise in this offering. We receive data on the carbon footprint associated with the travel booked through each provider as well as other essen al informa on such as mileage and service class.
The analysis of this data is of par cular importance to the delivery of our Carbon Management Plan 2024-2029 which has set targets to deliver a 5% reduc on of both Scope 3 business and field trip travel (2,284 tCO2e, 2021/22 baseline) and Scope 3 commu ng (6,044 tCO2e, 2021/22 baseline) emissions by 2028/29.
Going forward we will work towards analysing our travel data to see if improvements can be made to reduce our Scope 3 carbon emissions associated with business travel and field work. We will strive to get the balance right between reducing our carbon emissions and providing valuable field-based experien al-learning opportuni es for our students and early career researchers.
Commitments
We will ensure adoption of the Sustainable Travel Policy by:
Engaging with our faculties to ensure adoption of the Sustainable Travel Policy (below) and that a culture change campaign is delivered that complements our commitment to the Concordat for the Environmental Sustainability of Research and Innovation Practice.
We will improve the ease of using local public transport for business trips by:
Maintaining our expenses policy to leverage increased uptake of local public transport use for business travel.
We will work to better understand our business and field work travel data so that we can set proportionate targets that achieve 5% reduction in Scope 3 emissions by:
Working with our travel suppliers to improve Scope 3 data collection and analysis.
Conducting regular analysis of business and field work travel data to look at trends and key players in our path to reducing Scope 3 emissions.
Encourage use of public transport for field trips where prac cable and explore the most sustainable op on for group bookings.
We will work to offer and increase uptake of more sustainable travel options for European travel by:
Working with our travel suppliers to ensure that sustainable business travel options are available that do not rely on carbon offsetting to have a reduced carbon footprint.
Communicating with our departmental travel bookers, researchers and faculties on the importance of budgeting for more sustainable travel options.
Engaging with our faculties to encourage the slow travel principle and how this can be effectively implemented as business as usual.
Targets
Design a cultural change ini a ve on the uptake of the Sustainable Travel Policy (below) in keeping with our commitment to the Concordat for the Environmental Sustainability of Research and Innova on Prac ce by 2025/26.
Improve sustainable travel op ons for European travel by 2028.
Increase uptake of more sustainable travel op ons for European travel by adop ng the slow travel principle by 2028.
Work with local travel providers to ensure tickets are issued on all public transport journeys by 2026/27 so that our staff are able to be consistently reimbursed for business trips via the local public transport network.
Reduce local mileage claims for business trips by 2030.
Improve Scope 3 data collec on and analysis and set informed modal and departmental targets by 2025/2026 to reduce our travel related Scope 3 emissions by 2028.
Sustainable Travel Policy
Our approach to suppor ng sustainable travel is outlined below and should be considered as the LJMU Policy on procurement of sustainable business and field trip travel.
Our Expectations of Meeting and Event Organisers:
Local Events
It is important to consider whether the mee ng or event (herea er ‘event’) is required and if there are more suitable methods of communica on. Where the event is deemed necessary, we encourage organisers to provide an online op on to allow those who are hybrid-working or based remotely to take part.
Where appropriate to the audience, organisers should sign-post ac ve and sustainable travel op ons to a endees and request that a endees only drive if absolutely necessary.
Necessity and format should be considered.
National and International Events
Organisers are expected to explore whether the event could be made virtual so that it can be made more accessible and also help a endees reduce their carbon footprint. It’s important to consider whether we are making our events easy to join for those who can’t travel, even if the event or mee ng is large scaled.
Making events easy to a end has several considera ons such as:
The geographical loca ons of prospec ve a endees and picking a venue that’s easy to get to via sustainable transport op ons;
Whether local or regional hubs could be arranged to minimise travel and allow in-person a endance away from the main event; and
Giving people more opportunity to take sustainable transport op ons over longer distances, by running the event mid-week so that a endees don’t have to travel over the weekend.
Ease of and modes of a endance should be considered.
Our Expectations of Event Attendees
The two main ques ons to ask when deciding to a end an event and before booking travel are: ‘Do I need to a end?’ and ‘Can I a end remotely?’ Some mes we feel obliged to go to events that we are invited to, however, it’s important to take a moment to consider if you do in fact need to a end in person or at all – would the event outcomes be impacted by you a ending remotely? What would happen if you missed the event?
A great op on for many people is to a end events remotely, however it is acknowledged that this is not always possible either because of the nature of the event or the op on being unavailable. A ending remotely also gives opportuni es for you to make the most of your me with the poten al for only calling in to the sessions that are valuable to you.
Where staff or students are members of a team that are working on a project together it would be sensible to ask, ‘Does the whole team need to a end?’, be this for a conference, training, data collec on or stakeholder engagement. It may be a be er use of resources if the team delegates the responsibility of a ending to only one or two people within the group – this would free up teammates schedules to give other valuable contribu ons.
Or in the instance of going to a networking or training event, it would be best to consider if there is an alterna ve event closer to home that could provide the same benefits.
If the purpose of the travel is for data collec on or represen ng LJMU – who is the most local and best suited person to do this, and can we build the use of local skilled professional into our work wherever possible?
Local Travel
We ask that all our staff use ac ve travel or public transport op ons for local business travel where it’s possible to do so, and we define local travel as being within the Merseytravel public transport network or the LCR. All staff are able to claim expenses for local business travel where they have needed to purchase rail and bus ckets that would be addi onal to their usual commu ng arrangements.
We also offer a bicycle mileage allowance in-keeping with government guidelines for those wishing to cycle for their business travel.
Ac ve travel should be considered for local travel where this is a viable op on for the a endee, followed by public transport.
National Travel
Where ac ve travel is not a possibility, public transport should be the first choice for events that are further afield in the UK with shared transport also being acceptable for larger groups. All staff and students should book their travel ahead of schedule through our travel providers with due considera on of the travel hierarchy.
There should be no internal UK flights booked unless they are an emergency requirement or preauthorised as necessary due to care or personal needs. The excep on to this would be travel to outlying UK islands where other public transport op ons are dispropor onately lengthy.
Public transport should be used, and a no-fly zone observed.
Mainland Europe
Many European des na ons are easily reachable within a day by train, and if you book in advance, o en for a similar (or cheaper) price than flying. Also train travel can be far more produc ve than flying free and reliable Wi-Fi exists on many trains throughout Europe, and seats without plug sockets are a rarity, making working on the go rela vely simple.
Where there is a train link from the UK mainland via Eurostar services, we ask that the train be the default booking op on. We encourage a no-fly zone for European journeys that are under seven hours by public transport and will over the course of this plan, monitor uptake of this guidance.
Where there is poten al to take a low-cost sleeper train via emerging European routes this will also be considered if the traveller wishes to travel overnight.
If rail isn’t a prac cal op on, we ask that travellers look at whether the carbon footprint associated with poten al flights can be minimised, or whether cumula ve environmental impacts can be reduced by combining with other similar business trips or holidays in the area.
Line Managers should be recep ve to reasonable requests for extended sustainable travel me and where it is considered that such requests can be accommodated, they should discuss feasible on-thego working arrangements with the traveller. Requests should be considered on a case-by-case basis and give considera on to reasonable adjustments for those that require them.
Public transport should be used, and a 7-hour no-fly zone considered.
Outside of Europe
We acknowledge that flying is likely to be the only prac cal op on for interna onal travel, therefore it is important to make sure that the journey is jus fied. As a first step we expect all staff to consider the EAUC Scotland Air Travel Jus fica on Toolvi to help them decide whether they need to travel and the rela ve importance of this to their professional development.
Where there is poten al to take overland travel with a lower projected carbon footprint than air travel, booking of this can be authorised through departmental budget approvers.
As for European travel, we ask that travellers consider how their carbon footprint can be minimised, par cularly through reduc on in cumula ve impacts.
Journey necessity should be considered as well as the poten al to have mul -func onal trips to reduce cumula ve impacts.
Theme 4: Fleet Vehicles
We have put a lot of me into researching the current electric vehicle (EV) market offerings and have found that most of our university fleet can be replaced by EV alterna ves. Currently we don’t have access to a suitable EV alterna ve for our tail-li ed vehicles that we use to transport larger, heavier items around campus; or for our faculty owned vehicles which are used for long-distance field trips to remote loca ons within the UK.
However, we have made a commitment to increase our electric vehicle stock to cover >50% of our fleet by 2025/26. In addi on to this 20% of our fleet will be made up of low-emissions hybrids (see Table 3) below. We will regularly review emerging market op ons to determine if suitable vehicles have become available prior to vehicle leases coming to an end.
Table 3 - Historic and projected fleet vehicle mix changes from 2022 to 2025: EV increase from 6 to 14; petrol hybrid increases from 0 to 5; diesel hybrid decreases from 3 to 0; petrol increases from 0 to 4; diesel decreases from 18 to 3; and overall fleet size decreases from 27 to 26.
In 2024, we added 16 EV charging points to our exis ng capacity of six chargers, all in back of house areas. At the me of wri ng our EV charging points are exclusively for the use of our university fleet as the systems we have in place are not set up for ad-hoc payments.
Commitments
We will reduce the scope 3 emissions associated with our fleet by:
Improving our fleet EV mix.
Leasing fuel efficient in Internal Combustion Engine vehicles where specialist requirements cannot currently be met by EV.
Targets
Increase EV mix of our fleet to >50% by 2025/26.
Maintain low-emissions hybrid vehicle mix of our fleet at ≥20% a er 2025/26, with reduc ons only taking place where a suitable full-EV op on has been iden fied.
Theme 5: Private Vehicles and Car Parking
There may be mes when there is no alterna ve but to drive to LJMU, and if this is the case we would always recommend car sharing. LCR needs to dras cally reduce its current reliance on private car journeys in order to meet its net zero carbon target for 2035. We believe that car sharing can play its part on this pathway by contribu ng to the dras c net reduc on in car journeys each year.
The LCR consulted on its dra Local Transport Plan 2025-2040 in late 2024 which indicates a strong desire to reduce pollu on in the city centre to the benefit of pedestrians and cyclists. The Liverpool City Council’s (LCC) Liverpool Parking Strategy 2025 shared similar visions that indicates consolida on of parking offerings outside the city centre, which may have a long-term impact on our parking provision. We are therefore aware of the need to forward plan so that we can play our part in this cleaner city centre ini a ve.
Car Parking
As a society we make a lot of frequent trips that can be unnecessary or that are easily serviced by ac ve and sustainable travel op ons. Whilst the priority for this Delivery Plan is to encourage modal shi , LJMU recognises that some mes the only truly prac cal op on is to drive to campus. LJMU offers limited car parking provision across its estate via a permit system.
All new applica ons are allocated on a first-come first-serve basis, with those highlighted as having Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) needs being priori sed.
We do not offer car parking to students unless there is an overriding EDI requirement such as being en tled to disabled parking via the Blue Badge Scheme.
Car parking on our sites is currently monitored by a third-party provider to ensure that only those with permi ed access are allowed to park – unauthorised and inconsiderate parking results in a fine of £30. Income from the fines is used to offset the cost of third-party monitoring.
Car Lease Scheme
In order to make low-carbon vehicles an accessible op on to our staff, we offer access to a fully inclusive car leasing scheme via salary sacrifice. The car leasing scheme has over 100 Ultra Low Emissions Vehicles on offer at every price point, more than half of which are fully electric, and the remainder are hybrid models.
Commitments
We will manage our car parking provision in a sustainable way by:
Ensuring that parking is allocated in a fair and transparent manner.
Reviewing parking requirements annually.
We will support pedestrianisa on on relevant campus areas by:
By reducing vehicular access where appropriate.
We will support our staffin their decarbonisa on journey by:
Con nuing to offer and improve upon our all-inclusive car lease scheme via salary sacrifice to make EV and ULEV available in a more inclusive way.
Targets
Liaise with the LCC to support cleaner transport ini a ves that align with our ac ve and sustainable travel goals.
Review car parking alloca on system by 2025/26 in order to align with sector best prac ces.
Maintain car lease scheme access for all staff to have the op on of EV and ULEV ownership.
4. Monitoring and Repor ng
We will undertake monitoring at regular intervals in order to determine progress against our targets and associated performance indicators. Regular data analysis is essen al in assessing whether or not we are heading in the right direc on and why, it will also help to inform future targets that are ambi ous but a ainable.
Annual data collec on and analysis will be undertaken for:
Engagement in ac ve travel events;
U lisa on of the Cycle to Work scheme;
Provision of ac ve travel infrastructure;
Cycle parking occupancy;
Car parking occupancy;
Business mileage claims (for bicycles);
Business mileage claims (for private vehicles);
Business travel bookings (by department);
Business travel bookings (by mode);
Fleet decarbonisa on status; and
Fleet fuel consump on (for ICE vehicles).
A staff travel survey will be conducted every two years so that an up-to-date record of staff commu ng pa erns can be reported via our HESA submission. Student travel surveys will also be undertaken every two years (for the same purpose) un l the target to integrate commu ng data into annual registra on can be realised.
We will produce a summary progress report on an annual basis covering the above data as appropriate.
5. Governance
We formalised the governance model for our Ac ve and Sustainable Travel agenda in 2022 through the appointment of the Climate Ac on Plan Steering Group (now ‘Climate and Sustainability Group’).
The approval route for this plan is therefore via the Climate and Sustainability Group prior to presenta on to the Execu ve Leadership Team with the recommenda on that all proposed measures are subject to individual business cases.
Rigorous oversight of the Delivery Plan will be required if meaningful progress is to be made, therefore in 2024, a full- me Environmental Sustainability Project Manager (ESPM) was hired within Estate Development and Campus Services to lead on the Ac ve and Sustainable Travel agenda for LJMU. The ESPM reports directly to the Campus Management Group.
The Campus Management Group which oversees all campus related workstreams in the Climate Ac on Plan was established in 2023. The group, which meets every six weeks, is chaired by the Director of Estate Development, and will have responsibility for delivery and regular monitoring of the plan including the overarching performance indicators listed in Sec on 5.
A quarterly progress and risk report will be presented to the Campus Management Group and escala on will be via the Climate and Sustainability Group. Detailed business cases for major projects will be submi ed to Capital Commi ee for budget and financial approval, and regular updates will be provided to the Estates Finance Group, chaired by the Director of Finance and Chief Opera ng Officer to ensure costs are monitored and managed and considered in the annual budget cycle.
6. Conclusions
We believe that this delivery plan for Ac ve and Sustainable Travel will help us in our progress towards being a university that puts walking, wheeling and cycling as the first choice for local travel, and sustainable travel as the first choice for journeys wider afield. It will help us to enable more equitable and healthy commu ng and business travel habits, as well as reducing our Scope 3 emissions and contribu ng to a cleaner, healthier Liverpool.
Glossary
HESA
Higher Educa on Sta s cs Agency
ICE Internal Combus on Engine
Mode
Sustainable Construc on Procedure
The type of transporta on used e.g. walking, private vehicles, air travel etc.
An internal LJMU framework for selec ng suitable sustainability targets in keeping with our emerging Environmental and Energy Management System.