Monitoring commitments inside a travel plan
Measures fill most travel plans; commitments make them work. Baseline timing and method, targets that can be measured, the coordinator role, reporting and remedial triggers.
Travel plan monitoring commitments are the part of the document that decides whether it does anything. Measures and aspirations fill most travel plans. What makes one enforceable is a baseline survey with a date and a method, targets expressed as numbers against that baseline, a named and funded coordinator, fixed reporting intervals, and a list of remedial measures that come into play when a target is missed. Without those five things, the plan is a statement of intent that nobody will ever test.
Councils have worked this out. Travel plans are now routinely secured by planning obligation with monitoring fees attached, precisely because the unsecured version achieved nothing measurable.
What the plan has to commit to
A framework travel plan at outline stage sets the structure. A full plan, usually required by condition before occupation, has to carry the commitments. The difference should be explicit in both documents, because a framework plan submitted as if it were the full one invites a condition you then have to discharge twice.
The commitments that matter:
- A baseline survey, with the trigger for when it happens and the method
- Numeric targets for mode share or trip reduction, measured against that baseline
- A coordinator, named by role, with funded time and contact details published to occupiers
- Reporting at fixed intervals to a named recipient at the council
- A defined set of remedial measures and the trigger for applying them
- The term of the plan, commonly five years from first occupation
Everything else in a travel plan, from the cycle parking schedule to the welcome pack, is a measure rather than a commitment. Measures are easy to deliver and easy to forget. Commitments are what the obligation secures.
Baseline survey timing and method
Time the baseline so it measures something real. A survey carried out at 20 per cent occupancy tells you about early movers, not about the development. The usual trigger is a stated occupancy level, often a substantial majority of units or floorspace, with a backstop date so that a slow build-out does not postpone the survey indefinitely.
Specify the method in the plan rather than leaving it to the coordinator:
- The survey instrument, whether a resident or staff questionnaire, automatic traffic counts, car park occupancy counts or a combination
- The response rate to be achieved, and what happens if it is not
- The survey period, avoiding school holidays and the weeks around Christmas and Easter
- Who carries it out and whether the raw data is provided to the council
- How the results are converted into mode share percentages
Neutral months matter for traffic counts, and the same convention used for a transport assessment should apply here, so the baseline is comparable with the assessment's forecasts. Where parking stress is the issue, an on-street parking survey carried out to a recognised methodology gives a defensible number rather than an impression.
Targets expressed so they can be measured
A target has to name the metric, the direction, the size of the change and the date by which it applies. "Encourage sustainable travel" is not a target. "Reduce the single-occupancy car driver mode share for commuting trips by a stated number of percentage points from the baseline, by the end of year three" is.
Pick metrics the survey can actually produce. Mode share by main mode for a defined journey purpose works. Vehicle kilometres travelled rarely does, because residents cannot report it accurately.
| Element | What to write |
|---|---|
| Metric | Mode share by main mode, for a named journey purpose |
| Baseline | The figure from the baseline survey, with its date |
| Target | The change in percentage points and the year it applies |
| Measurement | The same survey method as the baseline, so results are comparable |
| Reporting | The date the report is due and who receives it |
Keep the number of targets small. Two or three that can be measured beat eight that cannot, and a plan with a long target list usually signals that nobody intends to check any of them.
The coordinator role and who funds it
Name the role, not a person. Staff change, and a plan naming an individual who has left is one of the reasons monitoring quietly stops.
Set out the time allocation, who employs the coordinator, how they are funded over the plan's term, and how occupiers reach them. For residential schemes the role often sits with the management company and is funded through the service charge, which has to be set up at the point the management arrangements are drafted rather than afterwards. For employment uses it usually sits with the facilities team.
The duties worth specifying: running the surveys, producing the reports, maintaining the information provided to new occupiers, acting as the contact point for the council, and implementing remedial measures when triggered. Access needs cut across all of this, which is why the arrangements should be consistent with the thinking in an equalities impact assessment where the scheme has one.
Reporting intervals and to whom
Fix the intervals in the plan. Reporting commonly happens in years one, three and five after the baseline, with the plan ending after the final report unless the obligation extends it.
Name the recipient by role at the council, usually the travel plan officer in the highway authority or the transport planning team, and state the format. A report that lands as an unstructured document, with no comparison against the baseline table, generates correspondence rather than acceptance.
Each report should carry the survey data, the comparison against baseline and target, an explanation of any shortfall, the measures implemented in the period, and the measures proposed for the next one. Short is fine. Comparable is essential.
Remedial measures if targets are missed
This is the clause that gives a travel plan teeth, and it is usually either missing or so vague it cannot bite.
Write a menu of additional measures with an indicative cost for each, and a commitment that where a target is missed the coordinator will implement measures from the menu to an agreed value within a stated period. Typical items: additional cycle parking, a car club bay and membership subsidy, a public transport ticket contribution for new occupiers, improved pedestrian links, personalised travel planning for residents, or revised parking management.
Two design choices make it work. A trigger expressed as a measured shortfall rather than as a judgement, and a value attached so the response is proportionate. Some authorities also ask for a bond or an escrow sum released on achievement of targets. Whether that is reasonable depends on the scheme, and it is worth negotiating against a clear remedial menu rather than accepting a sum plucked from a template.
Securing the commitments by obligation
Travel plans are commonly secured by a section 106 obligation rather than by condition alone, because the obligation can carry the funding, the monitoring fee and the remedial commitments in a way a condition cannot. The obligation has to meet the tests in regulation 122 of the Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010: necessary to make the development acceptable in planning terms, directly related to the development, and fairly and reasonably related in scale and kind.
Draft the schedule so the plan itself is the appendix and the obligation sets the duties. That way a later agreed variation to the plan does not need a deed of variation. Check the monitoring fee against what the council will actually do for it, and agree an end point, because a travel plan obligation with no termination date is a liability that outlives everyone who negotiated it.
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Frequently asked questions
When should the baseline travel survey be carried out?
At a stated occupancy level, usually a substantial majority of units or floorspace, with a backstop date so a slow build-out cannot postpone it indefinitely. Surveying at low occupancy measures early movers rather than the development. Avoid school holidays and the weeks around Christmas and Easter, and use the same neutral-month convention as the transport assessment.
What makes a travel plan target measurable?
A named metric, a direction, a size of change and a date. Mode share by main mode for a defined journey purpose, measured by the same survey method as the baseline, works. Vehicle kilometres travelled usually does not, because occupiers cannot report it accurately. Keep two or three targets rather than a long list nobody will check.
Who should the travel plan coordinator be?
Name the role rather than an individual, because staff change and a plan naming someone who has left is a common reason monitoring stops. State the time allocation, the employer, the funding route over the plan's term and how occupiers make contact. On residential schemes the role usually sits with the management company, funded through the service charge.
What happens if a target is missed?
That depends on the remedial clause, which is often the weakest part of the plan. Write a menu of additional measures with indicative costs, and commit to implementing measures to an agreed value within a stated period where a measured shortfall occurs. A trigger based on survey results rather than judgement is what makes the clause usable.
Why is a travel plan secured by section 106 rather than condition?
Because an obligation can carry the funding, the monitoring fee and the remedial commitments in a way a condition cannot. The obligation must meet the tests in regulation 122 of the CIL Regulations 2010. Draft it so the plan is an appendix and the obligation sets the duties, which avoids a deed of variation when the plan is updated.
Sources and further reading
This article is general guidance about the planning system in England and, where stated, the rest of the UK. It is not legal or professional advice. Check your local planning authority’s validation requirements and take professional advice for your specific site.