The Travel Plan

The Transport Assessment will be accompanied by a Travel Plan which will seek, by a number of suggested measures, to reduce the level of single occupancy vehicle trips generated by the development. Travel Plans are an increasingly important tool in the delivery of sustainable development and it is normal for the Travel Plan to be devised in conjunction with the Local Highway Authority. It will be bespoke to the development and its locality and will work to nationally recognised standards for access to local services and travel facilities as well as appropriate walking or cycling distances.

The normal objectives of a Travel Plan are:

• To maximise the accessibility of the site by means other than the private car
• To encourage staff/residents/visitors to travel via alternative means other than the private car
• To minimise the level of vehicular traffic generated by the development
• To enable the development to protect and enhance the environment

As part of the Travel Plan it is fundamental to appoint a Travel Plan Coordinator to deliver the initiatives of the Travel Plan and monitor its progress. This is required for all types of development including residential, retail parks, supermarkets and industrial units.

There are various types of Travel Plans depending on the scale, type and location of the development which are summarised below:

Area Wide Travel Plan

Useful in rural areas or very large, complex developments

Travel Plan Framework

For mixed use developments with multiple occupants and usually where the end users are not known at the time of submission. The Framework identifies various possible measures and initiatives to promote sustainable travel from which a bespoke Travel Plan can later be produced. This is then conditioned as part of the planning approval to ensure the provision and implementation of the follow on Travel Plan when the development is first occupied.

Interim Travel Plan

Produced when targets and measures cannot be identified – typically used for speculative developments when end users of a development are unknown

Full Travel Plan

Produced when end users and occupiers of the development are known

Travel Plan Statement

For small developments when a full Travel Plan is not justified and where a Travel Plan Coordinator is not needed. The Travel Plan Statement is again bespoke to the development, its locality and access facilities but only targets key initial measures, such as the provision of information on sustainable modes of travel in marketing literature and Home Owners packs and the possible provision of subsidised Metro Cards

A Travel Plan will include, but will not be limited to the following:

• Appointment of a Travel Plan Coordinator – a named person, representing the human face of the travel plan. The Travel Plan Coordinator will lead the delivery of the Travel Plan and be responsible for monitoring its progress
• Travel Plan report – published and made available to the public
• Measures to improve modal choice which can include – bus passes, cycle storage facilities, new footway connections, car share database, marketing strategy, new or improved bus stop, real time information etc.
• Modal share targets are required to identify modal splits that need to be achieved in the life of the development. They need to be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, “Time bound” (SMART) Targets
• Monitoring Mechanism – a systematic approach to measuring the performance of the Travel Plan over time
• Resources – a specific allocation of resources and finance to implement the measures of the Travel Plan

Travel Plan Coordinator

The role of the Travel Plan Coordinator may be taken by the Highway Engineer on behalf of the client on a part time basis throughout the agreed life of the Travel Plan. This is often the case where the Travel Plan covers a mixed use development where for economies of scale and linkage between occupiers it is more effective to deal with the Travel Plan on a site specific rather than individual occupier basis. Appointed Travel Plan Coordinator’s are also often employed in large scale residential developments where no one body could assume overall responsibility for the residents of the development.

The Travel Plan Coordinator will liaise with the Travelwise officer or dedicated officer of the Local Planning or Highway Authority when carrying out annual surveys, reporting modal splits and agreeing targets and measures from the Travel Plan to encourage the use of sustainable modes of travel. Good communication skills are essential as the Travel Plan Coordinator will be the focal point between the Local Planning/Highway Authority and the occupiers of the development.

The Travel Plan Coordinator will liaise with all relevant stakeholders to ensure the most successful outcome of the sustainable transport measures and through this close contact will gain knowledge on new initiatives from both the public and private sector to which will provide a realistic transport alternative to the private car for peak hour travel. A Travel Plan is a dynamic document and the Travel Plan Coordinator will review good practice from both central government research and local studies to encourage in as much is as practically possible sustainable travel.