Essex County Council
Essex Highways

Tracey Vickers, Head of Sustainable Transport

First published November 2020

Tracey Vickers' profile picture

Questions and answers

I started on June 1st, right in the middle of lockdown. My interview was virtual and my job has been virtual ever since.

Before ECC, I worked for HCT Group, a social enterprise bus company who operate commercial services for profit and then reinvest those profit into community services like Dial A Ride etc, for those who can’t access mainstream transport.

At HCT, I saw how important transport was. It’s not infrastructure – it’s a lifeline, an enabler and an issue of social justice. The ECC role gave me a chance to explore this at scale and help make Essex into a leader for Sustainable Transport.

The team. They’re passionate about sustainable transport, and everyone wants to stop building roads for cars and start building sustainable choices for people.

It’s quite a long list but it all has Sustainable Transport at the heart. And it’s all ‘we’.

  • We’re working on our response to covid19 - improving walking and cycling to provide residents safe, socially distanced and sustainable travel options.
  • We’re leading the transport workstream for the Essex Climate Action Commission identifying solutions to reduce emissions and make Essex a Safer, Greener, Healthier place to live.
  • We’re writing an electrification strategy for Essex. Cars will always be a solution for a rural county so we have a moral duty to the future residents to ensure those cars are as non-polluting as possible
  • We’re working across road and rail and residential: from ensuring the new Army & Navy junction in Chelmsford offers active travel solutions, working with station adopters on our community rail lines to increase patronage and assessing the transport plans of new developments to make sure public transport is embedded from the start.

My mother. She’s a single mother who has survived multiple cancers, remains positive and still jumps in puddles and believes absolutely in people and the good they can achieve.

I used to be a bouncer.

Oohh – how many people I allowed? I’d invite a dream team of amazing women: Emily Pankhurst, Michelle Obama, Dame Maggie Smith, Jacinda Ardern, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Rosa Parks, Boudicca, Ruth Wilson, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Helen Keller, Lada Gaga, Naomi Klein, Ruth Bader Ginsburg all the women in my family… I could go on. It’s going to be a big party.

Mexican or a really good veggie lasagne.

Revolution! My job is to put Essex on the map for sustainable transport