YNYCA Independent Active Travel Consultant Post Advertised
The closing date for applications is 17th September 2025, and candidates will be asked to make their pitches on 22nd September 2025.
The Mayor’s original intention was to appoint an Active Travel Commissioner. This job advert appears to be for that role, but the job title has changed.
Big Ambitions
The job advert starts with a promising statement:
‘The Mayor of the Combined Authority has big ambitions for Active Travel across York and North Yorkshire, and we are looking to engage an independent consultant to deliver a commissioned piece of work to achieve a step change in active travel ambitions for the region’.
The job description includes these elements:
- be an expert advisor to the Mayor
- raise the profile of active travel and advocate new initiatives
- improve YNYCA’s chances of attracting funding from the government/Active Travel England (ATE)
- encourage local highway authorities to commit to active travel schemes and deliver consistent good practice
The Consultant should facilitate an improvement in ATE’s capability ratings for City of York Council and North Yorkshire Council.
Details of the Role and Requirements
The role is two days a week for an initial term of a year (September 2025 to August 2026). The ‘project budget’ – what the Consultant will be paid – is £60,000. Candidates must be experienced active travel practitioners.
The Consultant will be expected to engage with the two highways authorities to improve the quality of investment in active travel across the region, and to increase their ATE capability ratings.
They will also distribute the Mayor’s Active Travel Fund.
Further, the Consultant will set out a future work programme and delivery options for the rest of the Mayor’s term (which runs to May 2028).
Deliverables and Milestones
The advert spells out what reports the Consultant should deliver and when.
- within 4 weeks: an inception report setting out the work programme
- within 10 weeks: an engagement report, setting out how the Consultant has engaged with key partners and established their role
- within 26 weeks: an active travel strategy that sets out investment in different parts of the region, and practical actions to improve the quality of interventions
- within 26 weeks: an Active Travel England action plan, setting out how the councils will improve their capability ratings
- within 39 weeks: an active travel design guide, setting out how to implement active travel interventions across the region