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TRANSPORT
Planning policy guidance notes set out Government policy on planning issues and provide guidance to local authorities and others on policies and the operation of the planning system. Local planning authorities must take their content into account in preparing their development plans. The guidance may also be material to decisions on individual planning applications and appeals.
This PPG replaces the November 1988 version of PPG 13 (Highway Considerations in Development Control) in respect of England. It provides advice on how local authorities should integrate sport and land-use planning. The key aim of the guidance is to ensure that local authorities carry out their land-use policies and transport programmes in ways which help to:
* reduce growth in the length and number of motorised journeys;
* encourage alternative means of travel which have less environmental impact; and hence
* reduce reliance on the private car.
In this way, local authorities will help meet the commitments in the Government's Sustainable Development Strategy to reduce the need to travel; influence the rate of traffic growth; and reduce the environmental impacts of transport overall. These policies will also make a significant contribution to the goal of improving urban quality and vitality, and to achieving a healthy rural economy and viable rural communities.
Transport and the environment
1.1 An effective transport system is vital for the local and national
economy. But continuing growth in road transport and consequent environmental
impacts present a major challenge to the objective of sustainable development.
Traffic growth on the scale projected could threaten our ability to meet
objectives for greenhouse gas emissions, for air quality, and for the protection
of landscape and habitats.
1.2 There is scope for further improvements in vehicle emissions, but in themselves they will not be sufficient. Further measures will be necessary to reduce the environmental impact of transport and influence the rate of traffic growth.
1.3 The location and the nature of development affect the amount and method of travel; and the pattern of development is itself influenced by transport infrastructure and transport policies. By planning land use and transport together in ways which enable people to carry out their everyday activities with less need to travel, local planning authorities can reduce reliance on the private car and make a significant contribution to the environmental goals set out in the Government's Sustainable Development Strategy:
[Sustainable Development: The UK Strategy. Cm 2426. HMSO, ISBN 0-10-124262-X]
1.4 The Government recognises that forecast levels of traffic growth, especially in urban areas, cannot be met in full and that new road building or the upgrading of existing highways will in some cases be environmentally unacceptable. It is already Government policy not to build new trunk or local roads simply to facilitate commuting by car into congested urban centres.
1.5 To maintain the effectiveness of the transport system, there are good reasons to place more weight on policies to manage demand, especially in urban areas by:
- promoting acceptable alternatives to the private car;
- enabling people to reach everyday destinations with less need to travel; and
- reducing local traffic on trunk roads and other through routes.
1.6 To encourage authorities to develop these policies, the Department of Transport has stated that, from 1995-96, authorities bidding for resources for local transport investment in urban areas will be encouraged to do so on the basis of a comprehensive transport strategy covering all forms of transport. These strategies should flow from the authorities' planning policies. Guidance on the new arrangements will be given in annual Transport Policies and Programmes circulars of the Department of Transport and accompanying guidance.
1.7 In preparing their development plans, local authorities should coordinate their policies for transport and other forms of development. Development plans should aim to reduce the need to travel, especially by car, by:
- influencing the location of different types of development relative to transport provision (and vice versa); and
- fostering forms of development which encourage walking, cycling and public transport use.
1.8 To meet these aims, local authorities should adopt planning and land-use policies to:
- promote development within urban areas, at locations highly accessible by means other than the private car;
- locate major generators of travel demand in existing centres which are highly accessible by means other than the private car;
- strengthen existing local centres - in both urban and rural areas - which offer a range of everyday community, shopping and employment opportunities, and aim to protect and enhance their viability and vitality;
- maintain and improve choice for people to walk, cycle or catch public transport rather than drive between homes and facilities which they need to visit regularly; and
- limit parking provision for developments and other on or off-street parking provision to discourage reliance on the car for work and other journeys where there are effective alternatives.
1.9 Subsequent sections of this guidance set out these aims in more detail.
1.10 The number of new developments each year is relatively small but the development patterns we set today will endure into the next century. If land-use policies permit continued dispersal of development and a high reliance on the car, other policies to reduce the environmental impact of transport may be less effective or come at higher cost.
1.11 The Government is committed to providing a policy framework which will help to ensure that people's transport decisions are compatible with environmental goals. A major element of this framework, as set out in the Sustainable Development Strategy, is to encourage people to take full account of the wider costs of their transport choices, such as the impact on the environment. In accordance with the polluter pays principle, the Government is putting particular emphasis on steps which will bring the costs to the user of transport more closely in line with their full costs. This will inform people's choices and, by putting a price on a cost where there is none at present, be more economically efficient.
1.12 The Government is committed to increasing the real level of fuel duty by on average at least 5% per year. It has also announced its intention of introducing electronic tolling on the motorway network when the technology is available and parliament has passed the necessary legislation. And it is considering, with local authorities, the scope for congestion charging in urban areas to help manage traffic pressures.
1.13 Development plans are an essential part of this wider policy framework and local authorities should anticipate these commitments in drawing up their development plans.
1.14 Additional advice on transport and land use in relation to particular forms of development was given in PPG 4 (Industrial and Commercial Development) and PPG 6 (Town Centres and Retailing). Further guidance on planning in rural areas is to be found in PPG 7 (The Countryside and the Rural Economy). This guidance supplements the advice on transport and development plans in PPG 12.
1.15 The Guidance will be refined in the light of increasing experience with the policies and through a continuing programme of research by the Departments of Transport and of the Environment. It will be supplemented with advice on good practice.
1.16 Throughout this PPG, reference to structure and local plans includes Unitary Development Plans parts I and II respectively.
Regional and strategic planning guidance and development plans.
2.1 Regional planning guidance, structure plans and local plans should provide the means for:
- examining the relationships between transport and land-use planning at the different levels;
- promoting their integration and coordination; and
- promoting strategies to reduce the need to travel.
2.2 Regional planning guidance provides guidance on the regional transport strategy and priorities. It is informed by the priorities for the environment and development as proposed by the regional conferences of the local authorities (or, in London, by the London Planning Advisory Committee).
2.3 The Secretary of State expects that, before submitting advice to him, regional conferences will examine fully the interactions between land-use planning and transport infrastructure in close consultation with all those with an interest, including Government departments, transport, development and environmental interests.
2.4 The advice should include the broad strategic policy objectives for land-use planning and transport in the region and propose a transport strategy that would best meet the needs of those policy objectives, the pattern of development proposed and the economic and environmental objectives set. It should be realistic in terms of the resources likely to be available, whether from the public or private sector. In formulating regional strategies, alternative options should be appraised systematically for their impact on transport demand.
2.5 Decisions on the trunk road programme will take into account the overall strategy set out in regional and strategic guidance.
2.6 Structure plans are the principal means of integrating strategic transport and planning policies. They provide the opportunity to assess patterns of new development, the general location of significant individual developments and broad areas of restraint on development, and the travel patterns likely to be generated. They should set out the broad policies to reduce the need to travel detailed in section 3 below.
2.7 The detailed relationships between development proposals and transport should be examined in local plans, which have to be in general conformity with the relevant structure plan.
2.8 Local plans should complement the policies set out in structure plans. They need to be concerned with ways in which the precise location of development can be shaped to minimise the need for motorised travel. Local plans should seek to revitalise traditional urban centres, improve their attractiveness as places to live, work and shop, and maintain their competitiveness. And they should promote healthy rural communities where people can both live and work.
2.9 Local authorities should monitor the effects of their policies. Careful monitoring, will help to improve understanding of the interactions between land use and transport at the local level, and beyond, and will contribute to ensuring, that policies are implemented effectively through development control decisions.
2.10 Section 54A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 requires that planning decisions are taken in accordance with relevant development plan policies, unless material considerations indicate otherwise. All policies and proposals on the basis of which development control decisions will be taken should be included in plans. Where an authority proposes to implement policies by means of conditions or planning obligations the development plan should say so.
2.11 Although this guidance is drafted in terms of how development plans should be prepared, the policies in it should be applied to individual planning applications, where material, as they will be by the Secretary of State in his decisions.
2.12 Local planning authorities should consider carefully the impacts on travel demand of all new development before planning permission is granted. Well-considered locational policies in plans, designed to reduce the need for travel, can be undermined by development control decisions which fail to reflect those policies.
2.13 Local authorities should consider the implications of new or emerging plan policies designed to reduce the need to travel when considering the appropriateness of renewing unimplemented planning permissions.
2.14 The following sections provide advice on the integration of land use and transport policies. There are four main sections:
3. Location of Development;
4. Complementary Transport Measures;
5. Provision of Transport Infrastructure; and
6. Transport Priorities and Access to Developments.
3.1 This section provides guidance to local authorities on the locational policies they should adopt in order to reduce the need to travel. Different areas will offer different opportunities and face different problems, in particular policies will need to reflect the differences between urban and rural characteristics in terms of the scale of development and the availability of public transport. The basic approach outlined below, however, should be applied by all authorities in determining locational strategies when preparing or amending their development plans, as it will by the Government in preparing regional planning guidance.
3.2 Housing development should be located, wherever possible, so as to provide a choice of means of travel to other facilities. The overall strategy, to be reflected in structure plan policies to meet housing needs, should be to:
- allocate the maximum amount of housing to existing larger urban areas (market towns and above) where they are or can be easily accessible to facilities (such as local shops, schools, workplaces, places of entertainment etc.) and to a range of transport provision, with particular priority placed on the reuse or conversion of existing sites and properties;
- in so far as needs cannot be met in central locations in larger urban areas, promote land for housing in locations capable of being well served by rail or other public transport;
- avoid any significant incremental expansion of housing in villages and small towns where this is likely to result largely in car commuting to urban centres and where the travel needs are unlikely to be well served by public transport;
- avoid sporadic housing development in the open countryside, but promote appropriate development within existing communities which can help to sustain local services and employment;
- avoid the development of small new settlements (broadly those unlikely to reach 10,000 dwellings within 20 years) especially where they are unlikely to be well served by public transport and are not designed to be capable of being largely self-contained.
3.3 At the local level, through their local plans, local authorities should:
- provide for housing development in central locations within existing urban areas or rural centres, including on vacant, derelict or underused land or through conversion, improvement or redevelopment of existing stock;
- concentrate higher-density residential developments near public transport centres, or alongside corridors well served by public transport (or with the potential to be so served) and close to local facilities;
- set standards to maintain existing densities and where appropriate increase them, and
- juxtapose employment and residential uses, where feasible, through mixed-use development and by releasing adequate housing land on suitable sites within central urban areas to make it easier for people to live near their work.
For further advice see PPG3 (Housing).
3.4 Concentration of employment and other activities attracting significant numbers of trips (such as shopping and leisure) in urban and suburban centres tends to increase the potential for use of public transport, and reduces dependence on the private car.
3.5 In their structure plan policies for industry and commerce, local authorities should:
- aim, so far as practical, to move towards a better balance between employment and population, both within existing urban areas and in rural communities, in order to enable people to live near their work;
- focus the opportunities for development of travel intensive uses (such as offices) in urban areas in locations already well served, or with the clear potential to be well served, by public transport;
- provide opportunities for development suitable to the scale of rural centres, readily accessible from local housing; and
- avoid major developments in locations not well served by public transport or otherwise readily accessible to a significant local residential work-force.
3.6 Local authorities should seek to provide locations for offices and other employment intensive uses at locations in urban centres, well served by public transport; and enable people to work from home or within their local communities. In their local plans local authorities should:
- move towards achieving a better balance in employment and housing levels within the urban or rural area;
- focus activities attracting large numbers of trips in areas very close to major public transport facilities and in locations easily reached from local housing by public transport, cycle or walking;
- allocate sites unlikely to be served by public transport solely for uses which are not employment- or travel-intensive;
- reallocate accessible land designated for activities which are not employment- or travel-intensive to more intensive uses;
- provide for the juxtaposition of employment and residential uses so that people have increasing opportunities to work near their homes; and
- facilitate home working and the provision of facilities for small groups of employees to work together locally.
Advice on industrial and commercial development is given in PPG4 and on development in the countryside in PPG7.
3.7 Local authorities should encourage the carriage of freight by rail or water rather than by road wherever it can provide a viable alternative. Structure and local plan policies should aim to:
- designate sites for distribution and warehousing, particularly of bulk goods, which, although avoiding direct access onto the trunk road network, are both readily accessible to it and served or with the potential to be served from wharves, harbours or railway sidings.
Advice on warehouse development is given in PPG4. See also 6.9-6.11 below.
3.8 Minerals can only be worked where they are found and the transport of minerals and spoil can have significant environmental impacts. Structure and local plan policies should seek to:
- maximise the proportion of materials moved by rail or water, through discussion with extractors and rail and water operators, through appropriate planning obligations and conditions on permissions, and through the encouragement of local facilities for the landing by sea and distribution of aggregates.
Advice on minerals development is given in the Minerals Planning Guidance note series.
3.9 Structure plan policies for retailing should seek to promote the vitality and viability of existing urban and suburban and rural centres. Shopping should be promoted in existing centres which are more likely to offer a choice of access, particularly for those without the use of a private car.
3. 10 Travel for shopping has grown strongly, particularly in the non-food sector. In local plans, authorities should:
- maintain and revitalise existing central and suburban shopping centres by enabling development to take place there and by policies which improve the quality and competitiveness of those areas;
- encourage local convenience shopping by promoting the location of facilities in local and rural centres, and ensuring, such areas are attractive and readily accessible on foot or by bicycle;
- where suitable central locations are not available for larger retail development, seek edge-of-centre sites, close enough to be readily accessible by foot from the centre and which can be served by a variety of means of transport;
- avoid sporadic siting of comparison goods shopping units out of centres or along road corridors; and
- provide for both local shopping and residential uses in large new developments, where feasible.
Advice on retail development is given in PPG 6.
Leisure, tourism and recreation
3.11 Leisure travel is the fastest area of traffic growth. In promoting policies for tourism and recreation, local authorities should ensure that major new attractions (such as sports stadia or leisure parks) are readily accessible by a range of means of transport and where possible use sites in existing urban areas.
3.12 In local plan policies, authorities should in particular:
- concentrate facilities in town centre and other locations well served by public transport;
- provide town centre locations for cinemas and theatres to give vitality in the evenings;
- maintain and encourage the provision of local leisure and entertainment facilities; and
- make provision for attractive and accessible local play areas, public open space and other recreational facilities.
Advice on the planning aspects of sports is given in PPG 17 (Sport and Recreation) and of tourism in PPG 21.
Education and other public facilities
3.13 Facilities with wide catchment areas attracting large numbers of people should be located so that they are well served by public transport and as accessible as possible for those who need to use them. Such facilities include higher and further education establishments, conference centres, hospitals, main libraries and principal offices of local authorities.
3.14 Universities provide particular opportunities for the sustainable location of facilities. Plans should seek to maximise the potential of urban locations for universities and should enable accommodation to be provided with ready access to the university site.
3.15 Policies should encourage the location of other facilities which need to be near their clients in residential areas or local centres so that they are accessible on foot or by bicycle. Such facilities include schools, health centres, branch libraries and local offices of the local authority and other service providers (such as local offices of the utilities).
Planning at the neighbourhood scale
3.16 The mix of development in a locality - be it urban or rural - determines its attractiveness and vitality. For example, planning for a variety of uses - shops and restaurants - on the ground floor of developments will help to keep streets lively. Attention to preserving or enhancing continuous pavement level streetscapes and the avoidance of blank frontages, such as 'dead' shop or office frontages, can be a major contribution to retaining pedestrian activity, retaining the commercial life of an area, and to crime prevention. See also DOE Circular 5/94 'Planning out Crime'.
3.17 By providing a wide range of facilities at the local neighbourhood level the need for people to use cars to meet their day-to-day needs will be reduced. Local planning authorities should actively encourage, through their own actions and their plans, a wide range of facilities at the local level. When combined with improved facilities for pedestrians and cyclists, the need for car use will be minimised.
4 COMPLEMENTARY TRANSPORT MEASURES
4.1 Locational policies in themselves can only provide opportunities for reducing growth in travel demand. If they are to realise their potential, they must be supported by other measures, and in particular by appropriate transport measures.
4.2 Supporting measures should have three main aims:
- to promote choice by increasing the relative advantage of means of travel other than the car, especially walking, cycling and public transport;
- to reduce dependence on the private car; and
- to increase the competitiveness and attractiveness of urban centres against peripheral development.
4.3 Local planning and highway authorities will wish to examine their policy objectives in the light of the advice contained in this guidance. In particular, they should review:
- the appropriateness of existing parking standards and requirements,
- review the impact of their transport proposals on the competitive position of urban centres and of non-car based travel; and
- the priority given to different means of transport relative to the car.
4.4 The availability of car parking has a major influence on the choice of means of transport. Some studies suggest that levels of parking can be more significant than levels of public transport provision in determining means of travel, even for locations very well served by public transport. Car parking also takes up a large amount of space in developments and reduces densities. Car parking policies should support the overall locational policies in the development plan.
4.5 Strategic policies on parking should be included in Regional Planning Guidance and structure plans to avoid the destructive potential for competitive provision of parking by neighbouring authorities. Standards in local plans should be set as a range of maximum and operational minimum amounts of parking for broad classes of development and location. It is for example unlikely to be appropriate in future for developments to be provided with as many car parking spaces as there are employees.
4.6 A certain level of off-street parking provision may be necessary for a development to proceed without causing traffic problems, but in order to realise the potential of locational policies and to avoid disadvantaging urban areas through added congestion or because of their poorer level of car access, local planning authorities should:
- adopt reduced requirements for parking for locations which have good access to other means of travel than the private car,
- be flexible in the requirements for off-street residential parking space and reduce or waive them where necessary in order to provide quality and affordable high density development in areas of good access to other means of travel;
- ensure parking requirements in general are kept to the operational minimum;
- not require developers to provide more spaces than they themselves wish unless there are significant road safety or traffic management implications; and
- ensure that parking provision at peripheral office, retail and similar developments is not set at high levels which would have the effect of significantly disadvantaging more central areas.
4.7 Local authorities should adopt on-street restraint measures to complement land-use policies and avoid on-street parking pressures in areas of parking restraint on developments. The level of car parking charges may also be used as an instrument to encourage the use of alternative modes, and to target particular forms of travel for restraint, such as commuting journeys. Authorities should seek to agree appropriate levels and charges for parking broadly to maintain existing competitive positions between competing local centres. Controls over public parking (on-street and in car parks) need to be backed up by adequate enforcement measures. Local authorities in London can apply for Special Parking Areas under the Road Traffic Act 1991 in which responsibility for enforcement of parking restrictions is transferred from the police to the local authorities. These arrangements will be extended to all authorities in the near future. Income from parking charges can be used not only for providing off-street parking facilities, but also to support public transport and highway improvements under S.55 of the Road Traffic Regulations Act 1984.
4.8 Parking charges and enforcement of parking restrictions should not appear in development plans as policies (except in so far as the authority proposes to secure levels of charges or enforcement through agreements) but they should be mentioned in the reasoned justification in support of the relevant land-use policies and proposals for the management of traffic.
4.9 Authorities should seek to encourage appropriate redevelopment or re-use of existing private parking to bring them down to revised standards and refuse planning permission for public and private car parks which do not meet the strategic aims of the plan.
4. 10 Where parking cannot be provided on site, it has been customary for 'commuted payments' to be made to local authorities for the supply of off-site parking. Local authorities should consider whether it would be more appropriate, as part of the strategic approach set out in this guidance, to meet requirements for access to sites by seeking contributions to measures to assist public transport or walking and cycling instead of funding parking.
4.11 Further guidance on the provision of public parking by local authorities is set out in DOT Circular 1/88.
4.12 A large proportion of the journeys people make is already on foot and a high proportion of all journeys made by all means of travel is very short. Better conditions for pedestrians and cyclists, linked to locational policies which promote local activity, could lead to a significant change in travel choices. The impact of policies and development on pedestrian movement should always be considered.
4.13 In their local plans, authorities should include proposals to make areas and developments safer and more attractive to pedestrians. Options include traffic calming, environmental improvements, improved lighting, provision of wider pavements and narrower carriageways and of pedestrian-friendly road crossings which avoid long detours, long waits or underpasses. In some areas, it may be possible to develop pedestrian routes along river banks, canal towpaths or disused railways. But pedestrians should not generally be segregated from the roadway or other activity; isolated routes are not generally attractive and can encourage crime.
4.14 These steps may be complemented by measures to reduce traffic and vehicle speeds - for example, by the introduction of vehicle restricted areas in which the movement of vehicles is restricted or prohibited. Such pedestrianisation schemes can boost the attractiveness of local centres for shopping, employment and entertainment.
4.15 The level of cycling in the UK is significantly lower than that in a number of neighbouring countries which have taken steps to make cycle use attractive as a day to day means of travel. Local plans should include policies that encourage the implementation of specific measures to assist people to use bicycles. The 'proposals map' should indicate routes along which measures will be encouraged to make cycling safer and more attractive, and any specific new cycling provision. Such measures may include separation of cyclists from other road traffic, shared pedestrian/cycle routes, facilities to cross roads carrying a heavy traffic flow, restrictions on parking and speed control facilities to slow motorists where separation is impossible. The aim should be an effective network of cycle routes.
4.16 Plans may also include policies for cycle use of redundant railway lines or space alongside canals and rivers. Sometimes such routes may serve the dual purpose of providing linear parks in urban areas. Routes shared with pedestrians, and sometimes with horseriders, should be considered where space allows. Provision of cycle routes and cycle priority measures should be encouraged in new development. As with pedestrian routes, care needs to be taken to ensure that cycle routes are not isolated from all other activity.
4.17 Authorities should encourage the provision of secure cycle parking at public transport interchanges, including railway stations and park and ride facilities, to increase the opportunities to use cycles in combination with public transport and car sharing. Provision of secure cycle parking facilities should be sought in all major developments and in town centres, and at educational institutions.
4.18 DOT Traffic Advisory Leaflet 1/92 contains a useful bibliography on cycling issues.
4.19 The Government 1992 White Paper 'Health of the Nation' contained specific proposals for developing targets concerned with the health benefits of physical activity and set targets for the reduction of accidents. The creation of safer areas for pedestrians and cyclists can help to ensure that the promotion of physical activity does not expose people to a higher risk of accidental injury, and make a contribution to meeting the Government's objectives.
4.20 Traffic management measures should help to establish clear priorities for access by different means of travel to complement locational policies. Traffic management measures will also be important to avoid congestion pressures which might arise in central areas from locational policies or to protect communities from disturbance.
4.21 In determining policies to reduce the need to travel, local planning authorities should take account of the local impacts or demands of their locational policies on transport infrastructure, and use complementary policies where possible to counter those pressures. Pressures could include extra demand for road travel in urban areas, which would need to be addressed through traffic management and parking policies.
4.22 Traffic management can be a useful tool in encouraging walking and cycling, improving the quality of local neighbourhoods, and making the streets safer for children and adults. Measures to enhance the street environment and improve road safety should be considered for sensitive locations in both urban and rural areas such as residential areas, shopping streets and near schools. Good traffic management can reduce community severance. It can also improve the local environment through the use of trees or other features as part of the scheme. Physical features such as road humps, chicanes and narrowing can help to keep vehicle speeds down and improve driver behaviour.
4.23 Local authorities should establish 'accessibility profiles' for public transport in order to determine those sites which could meet the policy goals set out in this guidance. These accessibility profiles should relate both to access to public transport from housing and access from public transport to employment and other destinations. The profiles should reflect the catchment area served and the likely quality of service.
4.24 The likely availability and use of public transport is a very important ingredient in determining locational policies designed to reduce the need for travel by car. Rail services with their fixed infrastructure can provide the greatest certainty for developers and can provide a focus for regeneration and comprehensive redevelopment. Stations or light rail stops should be the preferred location for travel-intensive development. Local planning authorities can help to fund the provision of rail infrastructure and may want to explore the potential for the reopening of rail lines or the provision of new stations or revived passenger services on existing lines with rail authorities in drawing up their plan policies.
4.25 Bus services, especially in urban areas can also provide certainty for developers where supporting facilities and priority schemes, such as bus lanes, are provided. Such measures demonstrate the local authority's commitment to secure good accessibility to locations well served by public transport. Locational policies together with bus priority measures can thus help to encourage operators to provide services commercially. Local authorities can also subsidise the provision of services for which there is a need but not an adequate demand. They also have powers to provide bus priority measures, bus stations, shelters and information.
4.26 Measures such as reservation of road space for buses and the provision of facilities for bus users can help to make the bus more attractive and enhance the effectiveness of other policies designed to encourage less car use. It is important that roads to developments which the local planning authority envisage should be served by buses are suitable for them (see the advice in Design Bulletin 32 Residential Roads and Footpaths). Proposals maps in local plans should indicate where buses will be given priority and the measures which will be taken to support this. These routes should reflect locational policies and the needs of bus operators.
4.27 Local authority support for bus services, passenger rail services or proposals for associated facilities should be consistent with the locational policies in development plans. Where development can only take place with improvements to public transport services, a contribution from the developer would be appropriate.
4.28 Plans may include provision for park-and-ride schemes to encourage use of public transport and improve the accessibility of urban centres. There are basically two kinds of scheme:
- those providing parking at railway stations on radial routes serving major urban centres and used largely by commuters; and
- those providing parking on the fringes of urban areas or city centres to encourage transfer to buses for travelling to the town centre.
4.29 The first type of scheme can have the effect of reducing the amount of travel undertaken by car, though by improving access by longer distance rail commuting it may increase travel distances. In these cases it is important to ensure that the location of the car park does not deter easy foot or cycling access to a station, or remove the possibility for high-density housing or office development.
4.30 The second type of scheme is usually designed to avoid excessive urban congestion and might increase the total public parking stock. Care should be taken (for example through tariff structures) to avoid encouraging additional travel, and especially commuting by car. The impact of the second form of park-and-ride schemes can be enhanced if accompanied by public transport priority measures.
5 PROVISION OF TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE
5.1 The provision of transport infrastructure is subject to planning procedures. Transport policies and proposals should be developed through the land-use planning process. Priorities for local transport investment are set out in the yearly Transport Policies and Programmes circular of the Department of Transport. This now places considerable stress on managing demand for transport in urban areas.
5.2 In developing transport policies and proposals, local planning and highway authorities should aim (in the light of the resources available to them) to:
- support the locational policies and objectives of the plan;
- improve the environment; and
- reduce accidents.
5.3 Structure plans should contain an explanation of the overall aims for transport policies and the way in which transport policies will support the policy aims of the plan.
5.4 Structure plans should include policies and proposals relating to the development of all forms of transport infrastructure and to related services, such as public transport interchange facilities, rail depots, harbours and airports. They should include an indication of the timescale and priorities for proposed developments, where possible.
5.5 Transport Policies and Programmes proposals to the Department of Transport should flow directly from development plan policies, and should be cross-referenced to them.
Safeguarding of transport routes and blight
5.6 Paragraphs 5.35 and 5.36 of PPG 12 give advice on the safeguarding of transport routes in plans. This includes rail and light rail schemes as well as roads.
5.7 Blight should be kept to a minimum by including in plans only firm schemes on which work will commence within the plan period. Local planning authorities should use the process of preparing or amending development plans to review transport proposals and remove the effects of blight where proposals are now unlikely to be taken forward by listing abandoned schemes. This is especially important for proposals, such as road widening, which affect large numbers of existing properties. Local planning authorities should consider the potential benefits of development to fill in set-backs from the highway arising from lapsed widening proposals (especially when isolated or in short stretches).
5.8 Authorities should ensure that disused transport routes, such as old canals and railways, are not unnecessarily severed by new buildings and non-transport land uses, especially where there is a reasonable chance that such routes may be put to use in the future. As well as their original uses, such routes may serve as cycle routes, pedestrian paths or bridleways.
5.9 The structure plan should include all firm proposals for new roads and major improvements to the primary route network (PRN)2 over the plan period and beyond where known and the broad policy on priorities for minor improvements. This enables the principle of the need for the road schemes promoted by the local authority and their environmental and other implications to be examined as the structure plan is prepared. It also opens the possibility for discussion of need at an examination in public of the authority's structure plan proposals, if transport is a topic selected for discussion.
5.10 The public examination of structure and local plans should not duplicate debate possible under the Highways Act 1980 about trunk roads and motorway proposals. Trunk road schemes should, nevertheless, be included in development plans since they can have an important influence on development patterns. Structure and thus local plans should include all schemes in the published trunk road programme (or subsequent additions), giving an indication of their priority and timing where known. Structure and local plans should address any land use pressures created by these routes.
5.11 The trunk road network is primarily to serve long-distance through traffic. Because of this, there is likely to be little need or scope to vary the programme2 or alter priorities within it, in connection with local planning priorities. Nevertheless, the Government will consider any new proposals for addressing the traffic pressures faced within a plan area that may emerge in preparing the framework of the development strategy established by regional planning guidance.
5.12 While structure plans are being prepared (ie before the public consultation stage), the Department of Transport will provide the planning authorities concerned with broad assessments of the ability of the trunk road system in the area to cope with additional traffic in the plan period, and its strategic proposals for new and improved new roads. The Department will also comment on any potential conflicts between proposals under consideration and its own plans for the trunk road network. These will complement and update the information provided for the preparation of the regional planning guidance. Local highway authorities should adopt a similar approach in relation to local roads and transport provision.
2 Primary routes are distinguished by direction signs with a green background. A full definition is included in regulation 4(l)(iii) of the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 1981 (SI No 859).
5.13 The local plan should elaborate the proposals of the structure plan for building or improving local roads within the primary route network and indicate other proposed new roads and improvements of a non-strategic nature as they relate to the development patterns proposed in the plan, including proposals for improvements which are permitted development. Where need has already been examined in the structure plan, consideration in the local plan would normally be limited to detailed alignment, with any objections to the alignment proposed heard at a public local inquiry. In the case of local roads not in the structure plan both the need and the line the road is to take should be examined through the local plan procedures.
5.14 PPG 12 described new procedures designed to promote closer consideration of new local authority roads and other development proposals (paragraphs 5.28 to 5.34). Only local authority schemes which have not yet received planning permission can be considered during the plan preparation process.
Mitigating the impact of new road schemes
5.15 Great care must be taken to minimise the impact of any new transport infrastructure projects, or improvements to existing infrastructure, on both the natural and built environment. Wherever possible, new routes must be kept away from protected areas, such as AONBs and SSSIs. Road schemes likely significantly to affect potential and designated Special Protection Areas (SPAS) under the EC Birds Directive and Special Areas of Conservation (SACS) under the EC Habitats Directive will be allowed to proceed only in strictly defined circumstances. Advice on the EC Birds and EC Habitats Directives will be provided in the Nature Conservation PPG.
5.16 New routes should make the best use of existing landscape contours and features to reduce noise and visual effects, having regard to safety and economic considerations. Additional screening through earth mounds or planting may be needed. New road routes and associated infrastructure should also be designed to minimise the impact on the best and most versatile agricultural land, avoid farm severance and disruption to field drainage systems, and avoid sterilising mineral deposits.
5.17 Care should be taken to minimise impacts which may be caused during construction, including the need to transport materials to and from the site, and the disposal of spoil.
5.18 Transport proposals are subject to the same constraints as other major development proposals in areas of protection. PPG 7 on the Countryside and the Rural Economy confirmed Government policy on new roads in National Parks and in AONBs. In National Parks and the Broads, major development should not take place, save in exceptional circumstances, and care should be taken with minor improvements. Such developments must be subject to the most rigorous examination. They must be demonstrated to be in the public interest before being allowed to proceed. Consideration of proposals should therefore normally include an assessment of:
(i) need, in terms of national considerations, but also taking account of the impact on the local economy;
(ii) the cost and scope for alternative schemes outside a Park or of meeting the need for the scheme in some other way; and
(iii) any detrimental effect on the environment and the landscape, and the extent to which that should be moderated. Any construction or restoration should be carried out to high environmental standards.
5.19 Road schemes affecting AONBs should be examined with particular care to ensure that a new road is needed, and, if so, that the route and design chosen do as little damage to the environment as practicable.
5.20 In developing proposals, local authorities should take care to avoid or minimize impacts on listed buildings or conservation areas and their settings, and are urged to seek the advice of English Heritage where there may be an impact. They should also avoid impacts on historic parks and gardens in the English Heritage Register, and historic landscapes and battlefields. More detailed advice on transport and the historic environment will be contained in the forthcoming PPG 15 'Historic Buildings and Conservation Areas'.
5.21 The Government is keen to encourage the use of suitable waste and recycled materials for road building and maintenance so as to reduce the environmental effects of quarrying new materials (see DOE Circular 20/87 (DOT 3/87) on use of waste material for road fill). This includes local roads, for which the strength requirements are generally lower than for trunk roads. The Department of Transport specification permits the use of certain waste materials in road construction. Up to 10% recycled bituminous material can be used in any bituminous layer. The Department is currently investigating the potential for wider use of wastes in road construction.
5.22 Transport routes of all kinds offer scope for the provision of trees to enhance the environment, especially in built up areas. Section 197 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 places a duty on local authorities when granting permission for development to make provision for the preservation and planting of trees.
5.23 There is a requirement for certain types of major project to be subjected to environmental assessment (EA) before development consent is granted. For major transport proposals, such as motorways, long-distance rail lines and most aerodromes EA is required in every case. For other transport proposals, EA is required if the particular development would be likely to have significant environmental effects. In the case of projects that require planning permission, the Town and Country Planning (Assessments of Environmental Effects) Regulations 1988, SI 1199 as amended ('the EA Regulations') apply.
5.24 Where EA is required for local road schemes, the local highway authority must prepare an environmental statement (ES) and submit it with the planning application. The environmental authorities and the public must be consulted. The ES and representations from consultees and the public must be taken into account before planning permission is granted (see DOE Circular 15/88, SI 1199 and relevant DOE guidance).
5.25 Projects which require EA under the EA Directive will not benefit from permitted development rights. Neither will projects likely to have a significant effect on, and which have been assessed as having an adverse effect on the integrity of, a Special Protection Area under the EC Birds Directive or on a Special Area of Conservation under the EC Habitats Directive. In such cases, a specific planning permission will be required.
Planning permission for local authority development
5.26 Under the Town and Country Planning General Regulations 1992 local authorities must apply for planning permission for their own development proposals, such as local road schemes. Such applications must be advertised and where they affect existing or proposed trunk roads, they should be drawn to the attention of the relevant Regional Office of the Department of Transport. By virtue of the Town and Country Planning (Development Plans and Consultation) Directions 1992 any local road proposal which is a departure from the development plan must be notified to the Secretary of State. Additionally, the Directions also require the local planning authority to consult the Secretary of State about any planning application by a local highway authority which is not a departure application - for development which consists of or includes the construction of a road and whose route is not proposed in the relevant local plan.
5.27 The notification and consultation procedures under the Directions give the Secretary of State the opportunity to consider whether applications for local roads should be called in for his own determination. He will, however, continue to be very selective about calling in planning applications and will in general only do so if planning issues of more than local importance are involved.
Planning for other transport systems
5.28 Part I of the Transport and Works Act 1992, which came into force on 1 January 1993, introduces a Ministerial order-making procedure to replace Private Bills as the means of authorising schemes relating to the construction or operation of railways, tramways, and other guided transport systems. It also applies to inland waterways; and works interfering with navigation rights. Orders may provide for the carrying out of works, land acquisition and ancillary matters. The promoter will apply to the appropriate Minister (usually the Secretary of State for Transport) for an order. In making an order, the Minister concerned can direct that planning permission is deemed to be granted. In other cases, planning permission might have been granted before the promoter applies for an order. The proposed route should be shown in the development plan, which should address any land-use opportunities and pressures created by the route.
5.29 Most schemes will be considered at a public inquiry, at which the planning aspects can be fully considered before any order is made. Where the scheme is of national significance, the Act provides for Parliament to debate issues of policy and principle, leaving the inquiry to focus on detailed and local aspects. Procedure rules made under the Act will require an Environmental Statement, unless the responsible Secretary of State grants a waiver. Such a waiver would only be granted if the scheme had no significant environmental effects.
5.30 The Act also amends the Harbour Act 1964 by widening the scope of Harbour Orders to include recreational use of harbours, such as yachting marinas.
5.31 The detailed procedures are set out in the Transport and Works (Applications and Objections) Procedure Rules 1992, (SI 2902), which came into force on 1 January 1993. These are explained in the Department of Transport booklet "Transport and Works Act 1992 - A Guide to Procedure for obtaining orders relating to transport systems, inland waterways and works interfering with rights of navigation" (HMSO).
5.32 The background to Government policy on airports was set out in the 1985 White Paper: Airports Policy (Cmnd 9542). Airport development is promoted by developers through the normal planning process, though major schemes will usually be decided by the Secretary of State for the Environment (sometimes jointly with the Secretary of State for Transport) following a public inquiry.
5.33 Airport development can bring economic benefits but may also give rise to environmental and other concerns including the question of surface access. Local planning authorities will need to weigh these in developing plan policies. The Department of Transport, Civil Aviation Branch can assist local planning authorities and should be consulted on draft development plan proposals relating to airports.
5.34 Regional airports offer the opportunity to fly without the need for long surface journeys. Some regional airports are at a point where the introduction of new services is becoming increasingly attractive and where higher utilisation, and thus economies of scale, may be achieved.
5.35 Small airports can serve local business needs, especially in outlying areas, as well as recreational flying. In formulating their plan policies and proposals authorities should take account of the contribution of this General Aviation (GA) to local and regional economies and the benefits of having suitable facilities within a reasonable distance of each sizeable centre of population. As demand for commercial air transport grows, GA may find access to larger airports increasingly restricted. GA operators will therefore have to look to smaller airfields to provide facilities.
5.36 The environmental aspects of aviation proposals will always need to be very carefully considered. Advice on noise will be given in the forthcoming PPG on 'Planning and Noise'. Existing sites, including redundant military airfields and airfields with established uses will often present the best opportunities for providing acceptable facilities, in so far as neighbouring development has reflected the existing use. Aviation use may also be a more acceptable use of a former military site than other development possibilities. Conditions may be necessary to limit the extent of the use of sites to acceptable levels, and this should be made clear in the plan where possible.
5.37 As well as offering potential for freight transport in some areas, inland waterways are now widely used for recreation. They are important for their heritage and environmental value and for water supply and flood defence.
5.38 Development plans should include policies and proposals for developing the potential of any inland waterways and disused docks in the plan area. Such developments below high water would need to be licensed by MAFF under the Food and Environmental Protection Act 1985. Authorities should consider the value of retaining boatyards used in connection with water-based recreation.
5.39 Where inland waterways would be affected by development plan policies, or by the construction or improvement of local roads, the local authority should consult the British Waterways Board (BWB), or other relevant navigation authority. They might also consult local waterway interest groups, and the Inland Waterway Association (IWA). Care should be taken to avoid severing or adversely affecting inland waterways.
5.40 BWB can provide authorities with a list of commercial, cruising and "remainder" waterways. There are also a number of independent waterways. (Authorities will need to check whether these are navigable and whether there is a public right of navigation.) Local interest groups and the IWA should be able to advise on waterway restoration proposals.
5.41 Coastal shipping contributes as much as one third by weight of the freight moved annually in the UK. Much of this is petroleum products. Coastal shipping in conjunction with the major navigable waterways can provide an environmentally friendly means of moving heavy freight to points close to its end use. But this is dependent on the provision of wharves and harbour facilities able to handle and distribute the goods. Local planning authorities should seek to retain or provide for such developments by designating sites in local plans.
6 TRANSPORT PRIORITIES AND ACCESS TO DEVELOPMENTS
6.1 Just as transport policies should support the locational policies in development plans, so land-use policies should support the transport aims of the plan. In particular, land-use policies should be adopted to ensure that:
- trunk roads and other through routes (including bypasses) serve their purpose as corridors of movement and do not have their national and strategic role undermined by development which encourages their use for short local trips;
- developments do not compromise the safe movement and free flow of traffic or the safe use of the road by others; and
- development proposals take into account their effect on demand for transport and the resulting costs this will impose.
6.2 This section provides advice on specific highways considerations in development planning and control. Consultation requirements for development affecting roads are set out in Annex B.
6.3 Trunk roads (which include most motorways) have an important strategic role to play in carrying long distance traffic between major centres. Developments in the vicinity of these roads, or their junctions, add significant local traffic movements which prejudice the ability of the trunk road network in the area to carry long distance traffic. Plans should aim to reduce the need to use trunk roads and other through routes for short local journeys. They should identify those routes (which should include all trunk roads - except those serving central urban areas) which are reserved as corridors for movement where associated development will be resisted.
6.4 Direct access onto primary routes2 should be avoided as far as practicable. Where feasible, access should be to a secondary road3. When access is allowed to a primary route, traffic flow and safety can often be assisted by good junction design. Large scale development proposals may merit special traffic measures and road works to accommodate them in the existing road network. Direct access to a motorway or motorway slip road is not allowed from any private development other than a motorway service area approved by the Department of Transport.
6.5 Government policy on development affecting these roads is currently set out in DoT Circular Roads 4/88 ("The control of development on trunk roads").
6.6 The type of access provided should reflect the type of road involved and the volume and character of traffic likely to use the access and the road. It would be unreasonable to require costly access designs when an access is readily apparent to drivers and only a few vehicle movements are expected each day on a road which does not carry traffic in large volumes or at high speed. But it may be appropriate to require major road or junction improvement if the volume or character of traffic or type of road warrant it.
6.7 Whatever the type of access, good visibility is essential. Advice on visibility is set out in Annex D. The combining of individual access points along a road should be encouraged as this will help to increase road safety.
6.8 Specific planning considerations relevant to the provision of road-side and motorway services are set out in Annex A.
6.9 Movements of heavy freight vehicles are generally inappropriate to residential and central urban areas, villages and minor roads (except for agricultural movements on and off farms), though provision should be made for access for deliveries, particularly in central commercial areas.
6. 10 Development which attracts significant movements of freight (such as large scale warehousing/distribution depots and some forms of manufacturing) should be located away from congested central areas and residential areas, but with direct access to the local rather than the trunk network. Local authorities should establish the routes most suitable for use by road freight and should encourage the location or relocation of distribution and operating centres and other developments with frequent freight movements in relation to those routes. Local highway authorities have powers under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 to make traffic regulation orders to prevent the use of certain roads by unsuitable types of traffic.
6.11 Distribution centres and retail and warehouse parks should be designed to accommodate the freight services which they will require. Local authorities may seek to reach agreement on the provision of ancillary freight services, including new freight operating centres and rest areas, as part of major new industrial or warehousing development.
2 Primary routes are distinguished by direction signs with a green background. A full definition is included in regulation 4(1) (iii) of the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 1981 (SI No 859).
3 A route which is not a primary route or a motorway or part of either.
6.12 Sometimes, the extra traffic generated by a proposed development may bring forward the need for road or public transport improvements in the vicinity of the scheme (and beyond). To the extent that the works are necessary to enable the proposed development to go ahead, conditions may be imposed on the permission, making its implementation subject to completion of the works. Annex C gives more details of appropriate conditions for requiring highway works.
6.13 The Department of Transport requires that road works brought about by development are constructed to similar standards to those applied to its own schemes. In particular, the design year normally required is for 15 years after the full opening, including phasing, of the new development. Local highway authorities are free to adopt their own policies on standards and design year.
6.14 Where additional public transport or road provision would be required for a development to proceed this fact should be included in the development plan. The willingness of a developer to provide infrastructure to overcome objections to a proposed development may be a material consideration, but it will not necessarily justify the grant of planning permission particularly if there are other material considerations, such as the aim of reducing the need to travel. Where transport improvements will be needed to enable the proposal to go ahead, these should normally be provided first.
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