Transport, Highways and Parking – Page 4

School and nursery drop-off, taxi and coach provision

School applications are decided on fifteen minutes of the day. Here is how to quantify the drop-off peak and what provision actually satisfies a highway officer.

Forming an access onto a classified road

A new access onto an A, B or C road is judged on sight lines and movements. Here is how the standards are set, what the speed survey does and where applications fail.

Private drives: what a highway authority will not adopt

Highway authorities set thresholds below which a drive serving a few houses will never be adopted. Here is what that means for the design, the deeds and the buyers.

Securing travel plan measures in a section 106

A travel plan secured by condition gets filed. One secured by obligation gets monitored. This covers the drafting that makes the difference.

Holding directions on the strategic road network

A holding direction removes the council's power to issue a decision. It is usually about evidence rather than principle, which means most are resolved by producing the right assessment.

Swept path analysis for a refuse vehicle on a new road

Highway and waste collection officers read the same tracking drawing for different reasons. Here is how to choose the design vehicle, dimension the clearances and present a sheet that can be checked in one round.

Travel plan monitoring: baselines, targets and penalties

Work backwards from enforcement. Decide what happens when a target is missed, then write the baseline trigger, the survey timetable and the measures menu that prove it.

TRICS site selection and the filters an officer checks

Building a defensible trip rate is a filtering exercise. The sub-category, date range, geography and parking filters that decide the answer, and the objections they prevent.

Travel plan contributions and monitoring fees in section 106

Travel plan contributions must pass the regulation 122 tests. Monitoring fees have their own express basis, which is why they survive challenges the underlying contribution does not.

Accessible and blue badge parking in new development

A designated bay is 2,400 by 4,800 millimetres plus access zones. Getting the dimensions right is the easy part; the quantum, the route and enforcement are where schemes fail.

Bin storage and collection points in flatted schemes

Capacity, carry distance and a door residents will actually use decide whether a communal bin store passes. Size it from unit numbers and collection frequency before the ground floor plan is fixed.

Electric vehicle charging in new residential development

Charge point numbers are now mostly a building regulations matter. What the planning layer still adds, and the decisions that have to be made before the slab is poured.

When National Highways objects to an application

The strategic highway authority can stop a council issuing a permission. What triggers an objection, what a direction restricting the grant means, and how the evidence is put right.

Section 278 agreements and how they follow a permission

On a minor scheme the highways agreement routinely takes longer to complete than the planning application did. Developers programme it as a formality and it is not one.

Selecting and defending trip rates in a transport assessment

A trip rate the highway authority rejects invalidates the modelling behind it. The defensible rate is rarely the lowest one, it is the one with a reproducible filter log.

School drop-off and the conditions councils impose

Drop-off is the impact neighbours feel every weekday and the one conditions handle worst. What can be secured, what cannot, and where to direct an objection.

Coach and minibus provision at schools and hotels

Coach movements are rarely in a local parking standard, so layouts reach consultation with no space for them. How to design the apron, the layover and the drop-off properly.

Development near a level crossing and Network Rail

A scheme that adds users to a level crossing will attract an objection unless the risk case is made. Here is the evidence expected, the mitigation options and the timescales.

Car club spaces secured by planning obligation

Car club provision is secured by section 106 obligation, covering the bay, the operator arrangement and household memberships. Drafting it around a named operator is the commonest mistake.

Transport, Highways and Parking8 min read

Site access gradients and the level landing

A vehicular access needs a level landing where it meets the highway and a controlled gradient beyond. Here is what highway authorities ask for and the drawing that settles it.

Forward visibility on estate road curves

Forward visibility around horizontal curves is a common reason an estate road layout is sent back. This covers deriving design speed, sweeping the sight line and showing the envelope on the drawing.

When a development has to provide a pedestrian crossing

Whether a scheme has to fund a pedestrian crossing depends on the highway authority's assessment of flows, desire lines and severance. This covers the evidence, the crossing types and how the works get delivered.

Tandem and stacked parking against local standards

Tandem driveways and mechanical stackers are treated inconsistently by councils. This looks at when they count towards parking standards, the dimensions that make them usable, and the evidence that supports a layout.

What a highway authority requires to adopt a street

Planning permission does not make a street adoptable. The section 38 agreement, design standards, inspections, bonds and commuted sums that stand between you and adoption.