What Are Travel Plans

A Travel Plan is a package of practical measures that are tailored to specific developments like housing developments, workplaces,and universities. With a Travel Plan we help people transition to greener travel choices, so as to reduce reliance on cars.

At Smarter Travel Ltd, our aim is to get everyone to think “why do we make particular travel choices for the journeys we make?” What are the impacts on us, and could we be better served by making some journeys by other means? Travel Plans show us which journeys we can change to benefit us the most.

Travel Planning Policy

Travel Plans are becoming increasingly important in government policy, so it can be useful to get ahead of the requirements early on. The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) objectives are to integrate planning and transport at the national, regional, strategic and local level. In addition to promoting more sustainable transport choices, the government want to promote the widespread use of travel plans amongst businesses, schools, hospitals and large residential estates. The NPPF sets out the main aims and objectives of Travel Plans, including how they fit in with planning applications. For more information on Government guidance please see here.

Travel Plans highlight how sustainable travel options can be maximised in a new development, and are often required in order to receive planning permission. However, when they are not required they can be helpful in achieving an ISO14001 Environmental Management Standard, providing a competitive advantage or improving a company’s reputation.

Different types of Travel Plans

There are several different types of Travel Plans, and the one you need will depend on a variety of factors:

Framework Travel Plan – This gives a basic outline of certain aspects of a travel plan and is submitted as part of a planning application.

Interim Travel Plan – Not everything is covered as some aspects are unknown, provides provisional measures and typically comes after planning approval but before the baseline survey.

Full Travel Plan – This is a complete travel plan, meaning it includes everything from monitoring and objectives to an action plan, budget and measures. The baseline survey is also included, providing specific travel habits of the site itself.

Area Travel Plan – This covers a wider area surrounding multiple developments and may be implemented to reduce impact on the wider area.

Travel Plan Statement – This would be suitable for a small scale site i.e. a ‘light touch’ approach, and only a few specific issues are dealt with.

To see how we can help you specifically, please take a look at the information on our ‘How can we help you’ page.

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