A travel plan is a package of measures or agreed outcomes aimed at reducing reliance on the private motor vehicle and reducing congestion. It is a process rather than a policy document. Indeed, completing the document itself is only the start of the process.
Property developers or their agents may be required to provide a travel plan as a condition to gaining planning consent. A typical travel plan for a new residential or business development will provide for the promotion of sustainable travel through developer-funded marketing initiatives, contributions to public transport and to walking and cycling infrastructure.
A successful travel plan involves continuous monitoring (for example, surveys), review and improvement over time. So it does require a high level of debate about transport problems, options and future action, as well as a high-level management commitment. But where a plan is likely to deliver significant reductions in the use of private cars, this could reduce the scale of highway works required to off-set the development’s traffic impacts and could, in certain circumstances, result in the need for less off-street parking.
We have created a detailed guidance document to give businesses, planning officers, property developers and their agents, step-by-step advice about developing good quality travel plans.
The STARS (Sustainable Travel Accreditation & Recognition for Schools) scheme is a new way of planning, monitoring and reporting any healthy travel activities such as cycling, walking and scooting that you promote to your pupils.
The scheme is completely free, backed nationally by the Government, and proudly supported by Leicestershire County Council.
View our Modeshift STARS toolkit for ideas on how you can get started.
