SUPPLEMENTARY PLANNING GUIDANCE TRAVEL PLANS 20 GUIDANCE FOR DEVELOPERS – APRIL 2003 Contacts If you require any further guidance on this document,Travel Plans or on WESTNET please contact: Travel Plans Co-ordinator, Transportation Services, St John’s House, Serpentine Road, Poole, Dorset BH15 2DX Tel: 01202 262018 Strategic Planning Services Tel: 01202 633360 Planning Design & Control Services Tel: 01202 633321 For further information go to: ɀ Travel Plan website http://www.local-transport.dft.gov.uk/travelplans/index.htm ɀ For full version of Planning Policy Guidance Note 13 go to www.planning.dft.gov.uk ɀ For the current version of the Poole Local Plan go to www.boroughofpoole.com ɀ To obtain a copy of the Travel Plan Resource Pack for Employers contact the TransportEnergy Helpline 0845 602 1425 or download it from the website www.transportenergy.org.uk/bestpractice/ ɀ For an up to date list of contacts, publications and information in relation to Travel Plans contact the Council’s Business Travel Plans Co-ordinator. Note: This Guidance was issued for consultation between 5th August 2002 until 1st October 2002. Responses to these representations are detailed in ‘Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) on Travel Plans – Public Consultation Summary and Changes, March 2003’. The responses identified helped inform the final version of this SPG which was adopted on 22nd April 2003. The consultation document also includes a full summary of the consultation process and is available from Strategic Planning Services (see above). This adopted SPG takes account of Department for Transport Best Practice Guidance ‘Using the Planning Process to Secure Travel Plans’. July 2002. To obtain a free copy please email [email protected] Tel: 0870 1226 236 Acknowledgements: Surrey County Council and Norfolk County Council for their assistance in the compilation of this Guidance. Contents Section 1 1 Background 2 What is a Travel Plan? 3 Objectives of a Travel Plan 4 Benefits of a Travel Plan 5 National Policy on Travel Plans 6 Local Policy on Travel Plans 7 When is a Travel Plan Required through a Planning Application? Section 2 8 Procedure Section 3 9 Producing a Travel Plan Section 4 10 Implementation and Legal Aspects 11 Enforcement Appendices A National and Local Transport Plan – Targets & Initiatives B Example Travel Survey C Mapping the Process D Location of Parking Zones Glossary Page 3 Section 1 1Background 1.1 This advice sets out the Borough of Poole’s (The Council) requirements for Travel Plans and identifies when they are required in support of a planning application. Parts of the guidance may also be used by organisations taking up voluntary Travel Plans. 1.2 Travel Plans are an integral part of the Government’s policies on sustainable transport. The Government White Paper “A New Deal for Transport” refers to Travel Plans and identifies their promotion as one of six key objectives for Local Transport Plans. The implementation of Travel Plans in Poole will help to achieve national and local targets to reduce congestion, improve air quality and promote healthier travel. Some of these targets are set out in Appendix A. 1.3 Planning Policy Guidance Note 13 (PPG 13 on Transport) published by the Government in March 2001, requires submission of Travel Plans alongside planning applications for development that will have significant transport implications. See paragraph 5.1. In July 2002 the Department for Transport (DfT) and Office of the Deputy Prime Minister published best practice guidance on ‘Using the Planning Process to Secure Travel Plans’. This guidance reflects government best practice. 2What is a Travel Plan? A Travel Plan is a package of measures to assist in managing the transport needs of an organisation. A successful Travel Plan will offer users of a business or organisation a choice of travel modes to and from the site and encourage more sustainable patterns of movement (for example reducing reliance on single occupancy car travel). Local authorities are encouraged to promote the use of Travel Plans to assist in wider aims of reducing pollution, congestion and improving health. Page 4 Section 1 The main objective of a Travel Plan is to provide incentives for “ “ users of a development to reduce the need to travel alone by car to a site. 3Objectives of a Travel Plan 3.1 The main objective of a Travel Plan is to provide incentives for users of a development to reduce the need to travel alone by car to a site. 3.2 The Travel Plan should contain a package of measures to encourage alternative and more sustainable modes of transport to be used for commuting, school journeys and business trips. These may include bus, train, bicycles, walking, motorcycling or car sharing. This applies equally to journeys made during the course of work or to visitors/customers to a development. 3.3 Travel Plans are better viewed in terms of an ongoing process rather than a one-off document. A successful Travel Plan will benefit from continual monitoring, (e.g. staff surveys), review and adjustment over time. It requires integration into other management procedures and demonstration of high-level management commitment. 4 The Benefits of Travel Plans Whilst Travel Plans will clearly help to reduce congestion and traffic related pollution for residents in the Borough, there are also benefits to organisations namely: ɀ producing cash savings, particularly where there is a constrained/congested site, car parking costs are high, or parking areas could be put to high value use; ɀ competitive advantage, they can help employee recruitment and retention, create a better image and improve public relations, reduce employee stress through healthier forms of travel, encourage flexible working practices and produce a fair approach to travel subsidy; and, ɀ widen choice of travel mode for all those travelling to and from the site. Page 5 Section 1 5National Policy on Travel Plans PPG13 (Paragraphs 87-91) outlines National Planning Guidance for Travel Plans as follows: “87. The Government wants to help raise awareness of the impacts of travel decisions and promote the widespread use of travel plans amongst businesses, schools, hospitals and other organisations. Local authorities are expected to consider setting local targets for the adoption of travel plans by local businesses and other organisations and to set an example by adopting their own plans. businesses 88. There is no standard format or content for travel plans, and they may have a variety of names (such as green transport plans, company travel plans and school travel plans). However, their relevance to planning lies in the delivery of sustainable transport objectives, including: ɀ reductions in car usage (particularly single occupancy journeys) and increased use of public transport, walking and cycling; ɀ reduced traffic speeds and improved road safety and personal security particularly for pedestrians and cyclists; and ɀ more environmentally friendly delivery and freight movements, including home delivery schools services 89.The Government considers that travel plans should be submitted alongside planning applications which are likely to have significant transport implications, including those for: ɀ all major developments comprising jobs, shopping, leisure and services (using the same thresholds as set out in annex D); ɀ smaller developments comprising jobs, shopping, leisure and services which would generate significant amounts of travel in, or near to, air quality management areas, and other locations where there are local initiatives or targets set out in the development plan or local transport plan for the reduction of road traffic, or the promotion of public hospitals transport, walking and cycling. This particularly applies to offices, industry, health and education uses; ɀ new and expanded school facilities which will be accompanied by a school travel plan which promotes safe cycle and walking routes, restricts parking and car access at and around schools, and includes on-site changing and cycle storage facilities; and ɀ where a travel plan would help address a particular local traffic problem associated with a planning application, which might otherwise have to be refused on local traffic grounds. However, unacceptable development should never be permitted because of the existence of a travel plan. Page 6 90. Where travel plans are to be submitted alongside a planning application, they should be worked up in consultation with the local authority and local transport providers. They should have measurable outputs, which might relate to targets in the local transport plan, and should set out the arrangements for monitoring the progress of the plan, as well as the arrangements for enforcement, in the event that agreed objectives are not met. They might be designed for the applicant only, or be part of a wider initiative, possibly organised by the local authority, involving other developments in the area 91. The weight to be given to a travel plan in a planning decision will be influenced by the extent to which it materially affects the acceptability of the development proposed and the degree to which it can be lawfully secured. Under certain circumstances some or all of a travel plan may be made binding either through conditions attached to a planning permission or through a related planning obligation. Conditions attached to a planning permission will be enforceable against any developer who implements leisure that permission and any subsequent occupiers of the property. Planning obligations will be enforceable against the person who entered into the obligation and any person deriving title from that person.” 6 Local Policy on Travel Plans 6.1 The promotion and implementation of Travel Plans is a policy objective in the Local Transport Plan for Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch 2001-2006 (LTP). The LTP seeks to ‘ensure development plans contain policies to reduce the need to travel by car.’ Local and national initiatives and targets to reduce road traffic, promote public transport, walking and cycling are also set out.