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Guide to Transport Assessment in Scotland

APPENDIX C — MECHANISMS FOR IMPLEMENTATION

1. The key to implementation is to make sure that those actions and measures, which are described as being part of the proposed development, are properly specified when planning permission is granted. The measures should be identified in the Transport Assessment. On-site infrastructure proposals should be clearly shown on the plans and drawings accompanying the planning application. The requirements, including infrastructure changes, expected of developers, should be secured through planning conditions or a planning or other legal agreement. A Travel Plan can help secure maximum change in travel behaviour in accessing the site by specifying appropriate targets.

Local Authority Policies

2. Scottish planning authorities need to set out sufficient detail in up to date Development Plans and Local Transport Strategies (LTSs) as to what they require in development proposals and the general approach to Transport Assessments. This will provide a transparent basis for planning decisions including the use of planning conditions or Section 75 agreements. It will also enable easier negotiations with developers on the use of planning or other legal agreements. It will also give developers more certainty as to what will be needed.

Planning Conditions and Planning or Other Legal Agreements

3. As part of the planning process it may be preferable to use planning conditions to secure certain measures, particularly where these can be clearly defined and for implementing measures in relation to small schemes. Although Section 75 agreements can be difficult to enforce for Travel Plans, they are available within the legislation alongside planning conditions and are therefore to be used.

4. However, in many cases planning or other legal agreements may prove necessary since developers can be expected to provide financial contributions towards their implementation. Improvements to public transport provision, for example, are one such area of potential assistance. Outcome measures resulting from the interventions introduced, such as Modal Share Targets, can be included in planning obligations. Input measures that form part of the design, for example infrastructure improvements, or output measures of travel behaviour, such as the numbers accessing the site on foot, may also be useful in some cases, but outcome measures are recommended.

Travel Plans

5. Travel Plans can provide considerable benefits to companies and organisations: reduced costs and increased efficiency will benefit the company while reducing local road congestion benefits the whole community. NPPG 17 requires the possible submission of a Travel Plan for a major traffic generating use only alongside a planning application as a means of promoting sustainable development and of securing the requirements of the Transport Assessment. A Travel Plan is only required if the development is a major travel generating use but one is not always submitted which may lead to delays in decision-making.

6. A Travel Plan will incorporate a package of the various measures described in The Transport Assessment Process that are tailored to the particular circumstances of the development proposal. Travel Plans provide an effective way of co-ordinating the whole range of transport-related measures associated with a particular development or site. Such a package of co-ordinated measures will be more effective in changing travel patterns than individual initiatives. In addition, the information on travel patterns gained through monitoring as part of a Travel Plan can also provide very useful data for designing the details of additional measures to ensure effective enforcement. Whilst Travel Plans are separate from the infrastructure provision etc, in practice they are often linked, and the Travel Plan can support the other policies.

7. Travel Plans are often agreed as a condition of consent to demonstrate ways the developer expects to meet Mode Share Targets and mitigate transport impacts rather than be submitted as part of the planning application. In the case of a speculative development where the developer does not have an end user identified, it may be appropriate that developer still produces a Travel Plan which would be amended by the occupier but who would have to agree the basic provisions.

Targets

8. Implementing Travel Plans through the planning system benefits from clear targets which are easy to measure and relate directly to the planning application. Various targets can be used for monitoring, including:

• number of vehicles entering a site;
• the modal share (walking, cycling, public transport, car) of those visiting the development;
• the maximum level of parking to be provided (by comparison with similar developments);
• parking usage (e.g. proportion of available parking used);
• on-street parking on surrounding roads;
• the maximum number or proportion of single occupancy vehicles entering the site;
• the level of car-sharing; and/or
• the provision of travel (e.g. public transport) information to staff and customers.

9. Some targets will be easily measurable while others require an interpretation to be made. The modal share, for example, can be measured on an annual basis but the provision of travel information requires a qualitative judgement. If there is an agreed overall target, e.g. modal share, the local authority may not need to be involved with monitoring all the individual components of the plan.

10. Transport Assessments are concerned with mode split to the site, with the aim that this should be influenced towards encouraging non-car modes. The issue of how far the traffic will travel is not usually considered. The emphasis is on local congestion rather than wider environmental impacts or sustainability issues. If catchments are used as part of the travel predictions for the site there is the option to predict total travel generated. The Scottish Executive would support such a wider view especially for larger developments.

Monitoring

11. Arrangements for monitoring must be agreed at the outset and included in the planning agreement where there is one. This may involve estimates of modal share, counts of trips on foot/bicycle/bus etc. over a period of time. Measurement may take place monthly, quarterly or annually, depending upon the local circumstances. Provision should be made for possible future changes to be implemented in view of the outcomes of the monitoring process. This may be in the form of revisions to the Travel Plan or changes to bus services and local infrastructure, for example.

12. The developer, occupier, local authority, or less frequently, a third party (such as the Scottish Executive) can undertake monitoring. However, it is probably best for the occupier of the building to carry out the monitoring. Monitoring could involve the building occupier submitting an annual or bi-annual report to the local authority presenting the outcome of perhaps monthly or quarterly monitoring exercises. Small companies or organisations might be affiliated to a wider organisation responsible for monitoring targets on behalf of all member organisations. The occupier of the development should pay for monitoring.

13. An occupier monitored Travel Plan must be audited, perhaps by the local authority, or Scottish Executive where issues related to trunk roads are involved.

14. If the relevant target relates to parking, the monitoring would comprise periodic surveys of parking levels as well as possibly monitoring complaints from residents in relation to parking problems in surrounding area. If the target relates to single occupancy vehicles the monitoring could comprise periodic surveys at the site entrance.

Enforcing Obligations

15. Transport Assessments are an ongoing part of the land-use planning process which includes monitoring as part of that process. This is important, since the issue of enforcing obligations agreed by the developer (particularly of predictions of travel implications or parking usage) is a difficult issue. Without monitoring, the benefits to be derived from a Transport Assessment can become undermined.

16. If planning or other legal agreements have been secured, the arrangements for the enforcement of obligations need to be set out in the agreement. A Section 75 agreement can be used to set Modal Share Targets

17. In the event that targets are not met this might involve requiring the developer/occupier to provide extra resources to specific measures such as improved public transport, or the provision of funds towards implementing on-street parking controls in the surrounding area. The agreement might set out that, in the event of a failed target, a revised Travel Plan incorporating extra measures, such as charging for parking, will be submitted to the local authority for approval.

18. Where a development is in more than one phase, the planning authority might give permission for the first phase only, and indicate that failure to meet the relevant targets in the first phase could result in further phases being refused, or less floor-space or parking being considered acceptable in applications for subsequent phases.

19. If targets have not been achieved the authority might make clear the action required in the event of the target not being met, such as further improvement (or increased priority being given) to pedestrian or cycle access to the development.

20. For some developments the planning authority may limit the scale of operations at the site. This might mean that a part of the development may have to be smaller than desired, e.g. a floor-space limit might be fixed. In some cases the planning authority may require that parts of the development remain unoccupied for all or part of the time (i.e. some of the seats in a stadium remain unused) or that some or all of the activities on the site might have to cease at certain times.

21. Some Travel Plans can be self-reinforcing. For example if parking is physically limited, and alternative parking is not available in the vicinity, there is less need to enforce an obligation relating to traffic using the site. However, the planning authority might want to ensure that on-street parking controls on the surrounding roads are effectively policed.

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