March 10th 2016

The achievements of local businesses were recognised and awarded at the Connected Businesses Awards which took place on 8th March at The Roundhouse Derby.

Over 290 businesses are currently engaged with Connected, and four levels of accreditation were used to recognise the achievement of these businesses in encouraging sustainable travel within their workplace each year.

The recognition achievement was given to 14 local businesses that have joined the Connected business network and are just getting started with their travel action plans. 54 businesses received Bronze accreditation, by conducting staff travel surveys, completing a travel action plan and through securing senior management support. Silver accreditation was given to 44 businesses that have implemented their travel action plan and actively promoted sustainable travel to their employees. Balfour Beatty, Derby College, Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Derwent Living, SNC Lavalin and The University of Derby all attained gold, the highest level of Connected accreditation by independently implementing their own travel action plans, running regular events focussed on sustainable travel, and encouraging their employees to choose healthy and sustainable ways of travelling to work through incentives and promotions. The six gold accredited companies have all recorded reductions in single occupancy car use for staff commuting trips.

In addition to the above accreditation, four special awards were presented in recognition of Travel Planning excellence:

  • Derby Museums received the Connected Small Employment Site of the Year award
  • Reckitt Benckiser received the Connected Large Employment Site of the Year award
  • Angel Trains received the Connected Travel Initiative of the Year for the launch of their Active Travel for Health campaign.
  • And the Travel Champion of the Year Award went to Abi Matemezano of Webhelp UK, in recognition of her hard work and dedication to continually promote sustainable travel within the workplace

Presenting the awards, Councillor Martin Rawson, Cabinet Member for Planning, Environment and Regeneration said “This awards event is all about celebrating the achievements of local employers and the work they have been doing to encourage sustainable travel and support their employees, the local community and the environment. It really is fantastic to see so many local businesses signing up to Connected, and really helping to keep Derby moving”.

Adam Sendall, LSTF Programme Manager said “Derby’s Local Sustainable Transport Fund programme – Connected – has raised the profile of sustainable travel across the city and it is important to celebrate its achievements in getting more people travelling by sustainable modes, including walking, car sharing, cycling and travelling by public transport.  Over the past three years we have developed strong relationships with local employers, authorities, training providers and charities and it’s encouraging to see the growing commitment to the sustainable transport agenda in Derby.”.

Speaking after the Derby Connected Awards, D2N2 Chairman Peter Richardson said: “As well as the investment which can be attracted by a connected and sustainable transport network, I feel particularly strongly about the social mobility that it provides; giving all members of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire’s communities the opportunity to access employment they may not otherwise have had.”