Transport, Highways and Parking – Page 8

21 September 2026Read article →

Choosing comparable TRICS sites for a trip rate

Trip rates stand or fall on the comparability of the surveyed sites behind them. Which filters change the answer, how much filtering is too much, and how to record the selection.

19 September 2026Read article →

Travel plans: targets, monitoring and the coordinator role

A travel plan outlives the planning decision by five years. The baseline, the target wording, the coordinator funding and the remedial measures bond decide whether it works or just sits in the obligation.

Answering a highway authority holding objection

A holding objection is an invitation to supply something, not a refusal. The trick is working out whether the highway officer wants evidence, a design change or a condition.

Transport contributions and the tests obligations must meet

Transport contributions have to be necessary, directly related and proportionate. This sets out how the tests apply to bus, cycle and junction asks, how to calculate a fair share and how to resist the rest.

Speed surveys and how recorded speeds change a scheme

The 85th percentile speed, not the speed limit, sets the visibility splay a highway authority asks for. This covers survey equipment, duration, placement and how to convert the result into geometry.

Electric vehicle charging under Part S and planning

Part S of the Building Regulations now sets the baseline for electric vehicle charging in new buildings. Here is what it requires, how the connection cost cap works, and which arguments still belong in the planning submission.

Stopping up and diverting a highway for development

A stopping up order is the item most likely to sit on the critical path of a development and the one least likely to be programmed properly. The objection window is where the risk lives.

Measuring accessibility: PTAL and what to use elsewhere

PTAL measures how much public transport is near the door, not where it goes. Knowing what the index leaves out is what lets you argue accessibility properly, in London and outside it.

Discounting trips: internalisation, pass-by and diversion

Gross TRICS output overstates the impact of most schemes. The discounts that get you to a net figure are legitimate, but each one has to be evidenced separately and applied in the right place.

Bin storage, drag distances and collection points

Bin storage is decided by the waste service, not the highway authority. Here is how to size stores, set drag distances and agree the collection point before layout freeze.

Swept path analysis for refuse and emergency vehicles

Refuse vehicles and fire appliances set the geometry of a residential layout. Here is how to track them properly and present drawings a highway engineer can check.

What a highway authority wants in a construction traffic plan

A construction traffic management plan is read by a highway engineer checking routes, mud and pedestrian safety. Here is what to put in it and what gets it returned.

Active Travel England and the 150 dwelling threshold

Active Travel England became a statutory consultee in June 2023. The thresholds are 150 dwellings, 7,500 square metres of floorspace or a five hectare site, and any one of them brings the agency in.

Transport, Highways and Parking8 min read

Visibility splays and how x and y distances are set

The splay is a triangle set by two numbers, and the one that decides everything is the recorded speed of traffic rather than the posted limit. That works in both directions.

Choosing TRICS sites and defending the selection

Highway officers go straight to the selection parameters sheet. Which surveys you kept, which you dropped and why decides whether your trip rates survive scrutiny.

Trip generation for student and age restricted housing

Student and age restricted housing generate different trip patterns from general housing. The difference has to be evidenced with site selection, surveys and enforceable controls.

Accessible parking bays: sizes, numbers and where they go

Accessible parking standards come from BS 8300, the local plan, building regulations and the Equality Act at once. Here is how the four fit together on a planning layout.

Temporary construction accesses and their conditions

A temporary site access is real engineering with a short consented life. The permission routes, the section 278 timetable and what reinstatement actually commits you to.

Parking standards: evidencing provision above or below policy

Maximum standards, accessibility zones and the evidence that justifies departing from them. Census car ownership, overnight parking surveys and permit exclusions.

Access onto a national speed limit rural road

Visibility at 60 miles per hour needs distances most field boundaries cannot deliver. How to survey speeds, size the splay and deal with hedgerow removal and gate set-backs.

Using personal injury collision data properly

Collision data is evidence, not decoration. Used properly it answers whether a safety problem exists and whether the development would make it worse.

Checking the extent of adopted highway before you design

The adopted extent decides where you can build, who owns the verge and whether your visibility splay is secure. Establish it before the layout, not after.

Refuse vehicle access and swept path drawings

Refuse access quietly decides the shape of most small housing layouts. This covers carry distances, turning heads, tracking drawings and how to fix a layout that fails.

Junction modelling outputs a highway officer will check

A junction model is only as good as its base year and its assumptions log. Here is what a highway officer checks first and where submitted models usually fail.