Transport, Highways and Parking – Page 2

Requesting and reading collision data for an access

A highway safety objection is answered with recorded collision data for a defined area and period. How to get it, how to read it, and what it cannot tell you.

Diverting a public footpath to allow a scheme

A public footpath across your site needs a separate order under section 257 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Unopposed it takes months; opposed it goes to the Planning Inspectorate.

Trip generation for a care home or a school

A care home peaks at shift handover and a primary school peaks in a twenty minute window. Neither matches the highway peak hours a residential assessment uses.

Shared surfaces in a residential layout: current limits

Shared surfaces are still designed and still consented, but the guidance has moved against level surfaces without a detectable edge. Here is what now has to be shown.

Private drive width and the number of dwellings served

A shared private drive is judged on how many homes it serves. Here is what changes at two, five and six dwellings, and the drawings that get a highway officer to agree.

Abnormal load routing for a large delivery

Weight above 44,000 kg, width over 2.9 metres or rigid length over 18.65 metres makes a delivery an abnormal load. Notification, route survey, structures and timing.

Servicing and delivery design for a mixed use block

Servicing fixes the ground floor layout before the architecture does. Choosing the design vehicle, separating residents from vehicles, and the evidence a council expects.

When a Transport Statement is enough

For most schemes of one to nine dwellings a Transport Statement is the right document. What it must contain, why statements get rejected, and how to scope it with the highway authority.

Defending a low car driver trip rate

Parking provision is the controlling variable behind any low car driver trip rate. Site selection, accessibility evidence and a sensitivity test are what make it defensible.

Parking stress surveys and the beat survey method

Parking stress is parked vehicles divided by usable kerb capacity. The measurement of usable kerb, not the counting, is where most surveys are successfully challenged.

Refuse vehicle access, carry distances and turning heads

The refuse vehicle sets carriageway width, corner radii and turning provision. Test the swept paths and carry distances against the waste service's own guidance before the plots are set out.

Section 278 agreements: scope, bonds and commuted sums

A section 278 agreement is a design and approval process, not paperwork that follows a decision. The three cost heads developers underestimate are check and supervision fees, the bond, and commuted sums.

Pedestrian intervisibility splays at a private driveway

The pedestrian splay at the back of the footway is a separate test from vehicular visibility, and it sits in your front garden. Dimensions, wall heights, gates and the drawing that answers it.

Forward visibility on a bend for a new access

A perfect junction splay will not save an access if a driver coming round the bend cannot see it. How forward visibility is measured, the obstruction and ownership traps, and why relocating often wins.

Deriving visibility splays from recorded vehicle speeds

Highway authorities derive sight distance from the speeds vehicles actually travel at. How to commission a defensible speed survey, set the splay out correctly, and deal with land you do not control.

Bus infrastructure contributions and their triggers

Public transport contributions are among the least scrutinised heads of terms in a section 106 agreement. Here is what is usually sought, what the regulations require and where the drafting should be tightened.

Manual for Streets geometry for a small cul-de-sac

Start from the speed you want and work back to width, radii and visibility. Then check the refuse vehicle can turn, the footway stays usable and the levels work.

Residential and workplace travel plans compared

A residential travel plan targets households who have not moved in yet and is run by a management company. A workplace plan targets a known workforce and is run by the employer. The instruments are not interchangeable.

Cycle parking standards and stand spacing for flats

Cycle stores fail on dimensions more than on numbers. Stand centres, aisle widths, two-tier limits, cargo cycle spaces and the drawing that gets accepted.

Visibility splays and the stopping sight distance calculation

The x distance comes from Manual for Streets, the y distance from the stopping sight distance at observed speeds. How to evidence both and keep the splay deliverable.

Highway drainage: gullies, connections and who maintains

Highway drainage has its own owner, approval route and maintenance liability. The join with the site strategy is where adoption disputes start.

School access: drop-off, school streets and restrictions

The period that decides whether a school works is the quarter hour either side of the bell. Survey that, not the network peak, or the assessment misses the point.

Accessible parking: dimensions, numbers and distances

Accessible bay dimensions, the access zones beside and behind them, and the route to the entrance decide whether the provision works in use.

Powered two-wheeler parking and where it belongs

Powered two-wheeler provision has its own ratio, bay type and siting expectations in adopted parking standards, and it is the line most often left off a layout.