Communities benefit from legacy of Connecting You project

Devon County Council’s Connecting You project was one of 12 across the country supported with the Department for Transport’s Tackling Loneliness with Transport funding in 2022. The initiative aimed to reduce loneliness in over-55’s and young people aged 16-24.

The legacy of a year-long pilot project which trialled a number of innovative transport schemes in Devon to help reduce loneliness is still being felt today.

Devon County Council’s Connecting You project was one of 12 across the country supported with the Department for Transport’s Tackling Loneliness with Transport (TLwT) funding in 2022. The initiative aimed to reduce loneliness in over-55’s and young people aged 16-24.

In total, 25 organisations were involved in delivering the project to more than 1,850 people, who covered more than 10,000 miles. Almost £90,000 was also distributed to 14 local groups to trial projects.

Devon Communities Together

Independent charity Devon Communities Together (DCT) was one of the key delivery partners of Connecting You, and with the support of the County Council, DCT developed its ‘Independent Travel Training Guide for Community Organisations’, which provides an in-depth, systematic approach for adult travel training. It also includes helpful resources for using public transport, travel tools and guidance for promoting independence. 

Through Connecting You, the charity delivered 21 two-hour workshops to 125 people from care organisations and the voluntary sector.  These organisations are now equipped with the tools to support their own clients.

It also piloted one-to-one training sessions, which it has built upon to form the basis of its subsequent project – Travelling With Confidence.

The project, funded by the Motability Foundation, is being delivered in partnership with Living Options Devon. It’s offering free training for people with disabilities to help gain confidence using public transport as well as delivering disability awareness training to local partner organisations and travel providers.

Rod Birtles, Devon Communities Together Project manager, said: “We learned a great deal about the needs of isolated people on Connecting You. Many people who did not access public transport were disabled, and we recognised a need for individual training and support. In particular young people who receive statutory support to the age of 16 after which there may be no help available. This can affect their ability to attend college or work and result in further isolation. This finding forms the basis of Travelling With Confidence. Our clients include students at Exeter College Independence Gateway and Bicton College as well as sheltered accommodation residents and care organisations.”

Wellmoor

Among the projects supported with grant funding through Connecting You was Devon Day Trippers run by Wellmoor, based in Moretonhampstead. This initiative provided social day trips to people aged over 55 in Moretonhampstead and surrounding villages who find it hard to get out and about.

Having initially hired minibuses, the group progressed onto using trains, public buses, and taxis.

Wellmoor has continued to run supported trips at a low-cost as it now has a trained minibus driver, and a local taxi driver has also been donating his taxi services to support the group. It now has a long-term goal to develop Community Transport in Moretonhampstead.

Torie Hitchings, Wellmoor Project Manager, said: “The trips have been hugely popular and we are continually asked ‘are there any more trips running?’ The initial Connecting You project was the catalyst to Wellmoor realising how vital these trips are in tackling social isolation and improving mental wellbeing. The feedback from participants indicates the main benefit is the social experience.

“We witnessed a rise in people’s confidence when using public transport and trains and a small number of people found that going on the trips led them to go on similar trips themselves independently and broadened their horizons. However, most participants valued the supported nature of the trips which enabled them to get out further afield, like trips to the coast for example.”

Seachange

Local charity Seachange aims to reduce isolation and loneliness while improving the health and happiness in communities of Exmouth, Woodbury, Budleigh Salterton and surrounding areas. Its Connecting You initiative, ‘Blokes on Buses’, was designed to engage men aged 55-plus, bringing them together in small groups to build new friendships and engage in new or different activities using public and community transport.

Seachange also received a Travel Training workshop provided by Devon Communities Together, which helped group members to build confidence to apply for bus passes and increase their independence by using public transport.

The Blokes on Buses scheme prompted Seachange to restart its “Let’s Talk Sport” club to address loneliness among older men.

Kate Harrison, Project Manager at Seachange, said: “Personally, I have enjoyed watching the confidences grow and friendships build; some of the original participants still meet up.

“As an organisation we have benefited from taking part in the project because we have been able to reach a previously hard to reach cohort of people and link them into some of our other services. This has been very rewarding, as when a project comes to an end it is always nice to be able to offer something else and we will get to see their connections grow even more.

“We were also fortunate enough to take advantage of the travel training offered by another charity on the “Connecting You” project. This enabled us to upskill staff and volunteers and empower them to provide guidance to some of our other participants around bus travel.”

Devon in Sight

Devon in Sight (DiS) (The Devon County Association for the Blind) is a Devon-wide charity providing a range of information and support services to people who are blind or partially sighted. As part of Connecting You, 16 of its clients were helped to organise a Christmas trip to Exeter, many of whom at the time had not left their homes since the COVID lockdowns.

The charity also ran two community events in South Molton and Kingsbridge, as well as carrying out research into the transport needs of their clients, and hosting telephone-based support sessions.

This has resulted in DiS updating many of its information resources around public and Community Transport and community-based social clubs. It has also enabled them to develop new partnerships with local providers, particularly Community Transport groups, who are now invited to community-based “Living Well with Sight Loss” events.

The Devon Access Wallets are now also embedded into DiS information, advice and Independent Living Service offers, and DiS also provides Driver Disability Awareness Training. Its Disability Awareness Training for Public and Community Bus Drivers was made available to 37 operators during the Connecting You pilot and almost 1,600 Bus Driver Disability Awareness Manuals were distributed.

Grahame Flynn, Chief Executive Officer at Devon in Sight, said: “We hope that our Bus Driver Disability Awareness Training will help remove barriers for people living with disabilities who wish to use public and community transport and ultimately help them reduce feelings of loneliness and social isolation.”

The Connecting You project repeatedly found that community transport, which is often seen as a “safety net” due to mobility reasons or rurality, is highly valued in building confidence and as a useful stepping stone towards independent use of public transport.

A survey asked participants of the Connecting You projects about their confidence in planning a journey. Those who responded “not at all” or “rarely” reduced by 60% compared with beforehand, while those who stated “often” and “always” increased by 16%.

Confidence in using public transport also increased by 28% after the programme.

Councillor Andrea Davis, Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Environment and Transport, said:

“The Connecting You pilot sought ways in which transport can offer a solution to bring people together, taking them places and providing them with experiences. We hoped the project would have a lasting legacy and it’s gratifying to see that is the case. These community projects are great examples of how they have built on their work through Connecting You to establish transport services that consider the reduction of loneliness.”