Securing and monitoring a travel plan through section 106
Conditions cannot require payments, so travel plan fees, coordinators and bonds move into the section 106 agreement. The remedial measures menu matters more than the bond figure.
Travel plan section 106 monitoring is the part of a highways package that developers price last and regret first. A planning condition can require a travel plan to be submitted and implemented. It cannot require you to pay a monitoring fee, fund a coordinator for five years, or lodge a bond that the council draws down when targets are missed. Those are financial obligations, and they belong in a section 106 agreement.
Why a travel plan is secured by obligation rather than condition
Conditions control what happens on land. They cannot lawfully require payments to the authority, and a condition attempting it fails the tests in Planning Practice Guidance. So the moment the highway authority asks for a monitoring fee or a bond, the mechanism has to move into an agreement under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
Obligations must meet the three 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. Every element of a travel plan package has to survive those tests individually, including the fee.
In practice many schemes end up with both instruments. A condition requires a full travel plan to be approved before first occupation. The agreement carries the coordinator, the surveys, the fee, the bond and the remedial measures. Keep the two consistent, because contradictory drafting between condition and obligation is a real source of dispute at discharge stage.
Targets, baselines and the first survey
A travel plan with no measurable target is unenforceable, and a bond attached to an unmeasurable target is worthless.
The baseline comes from the transport work supporting the application. Where a Transport Assessment has modelled trip generation, the predicted modal split becomes the starting point, and the plan sets targets as a shift away from single-occupancy car use over a stated period. Where the scheme sat below the assessment threshold, the baseline is usually taken from census or local survey data agreed with the highway authority. The relationship between scheme size and the evidence required is covered in more depth under trip generation and the assessment threshold.
The first survey is normally triggered by an occupation level rather than a date, which is fairer to both sides on a phased scheme. A common formulation is a survey within a stated number of months of a stated proportion of units being occupied, repeated at intervals to the end of the plan period.
Three drafting points save arguments later. Fix the survey method in the agreement, including sample size and season, so results are comparable. Say who pays for the survey. And state explicitly whether targets are absolute modal shares or a shift from the measured baseline, because those are very different obligations.
The role and funding of a travel plan coordinator
The coordinator is the person the highway authority telephones. The agreement should name the role, require the developer to appoint someone to it before first occupation, and require the contact details to be given to the authority and updated when they change.
Funding is the contentious part. On a residential scheme the developer usually funds the role until handover to a management company, after which estate charges take over. On a commercial scheme the occupier commonly absorbs it. Either way the agreement should state the period, because a coordinator obligation with no end date is one nobody will accept on a sale.
The coordinator's duties are worth listing rather than leaving to inference: running the surveys, producing the monitoring reports, promoting the measures, maintaining the information pack for new occupiers and acting as the point of contact for the authority.
Monitoring fees and how they arrive at a figure
Authorities charge a fee to cover the officer time spent reading reports, checking compliance and chasing defaults. Planning Practice Guidance on planning obligations accepts monitoring fees in principle, provided they are proportionate and reasonable and relate to the obligations actually being monitored.
Most authorities publish a scale, either as a fixed sum per obligation, a sum per year of the monitoring period, or a percentage of the value of the obligations with a cap. Ask for the published basis at the start of negotiation. A fee calculated from a published scale is much harder to argue with than one produced ad hoc, and much easier to defend to a funder.
Where the figure looks disproportionate to the officer time involved, say so in writing and ask for the calculation. The point is not to win a small sum. It is to establish that the scale exists and has been applied.
Travel plan bonds and remedial measures
A bond is a sum secured by the agreement, drawn on if monitoring shows targets have been missed and the remedial measures have not been delivered. It is released when the plan period ends with targets met, or in tranches at review points.
| Element | What the agreement should state |
|---|---|
| Bond sum | Fixed figure or formula, indexed, with the basis recorded |
| Trigger | The monitoring result that permits a draw-down |
| Remedial measures | A menu the developer may choose from, with indicative costs |
| Cure period | Time allowed to deliver remedial measures before draw-down |
| Release | Dates or milestones at which the bond reduces and ends |
The remedial menu matters more than the bond figure. Without one, the authority decides what is bought with the money. A negotiated list gives the developer a choice: additional secure cycle parking, a car club space and membership, discounted travel passes for a defined period, improved pedestrian links, or a reduction in parking provision where the layout allows it. Cycle and accessible parking appear on almost every list, and the standards behind them are set out under accessible and motorcycle parking in a new scheme.
Bonds are not universal. Some authorities take a covenant to deliver remedial measures instead, which costs nothing up front and is harder to enforce. Which one you are offered usually reflects the authority's past experience rather than anything about your scheme.
Review points and what triggers them
Build review points into the plan at the same intervals as the surveys. Each review should compare result against target, record the reasons for any shortfall, and either confirm the plan continues unchanged or set the remedial measures in train.
Reviews also allow targets to be revised where circumstances have really changed, for instance where a bus service the plan relied on has been withdrawn. Include a mechanism for that. A plan that cannot be varied except by deed of variation will simply be ignored once it becomes unrealistic.
Handover to a management company
The handover is where travel plans die. The developer sells the last unit, the coordinator role lapses, the management company has never heard of the agreement, and the first the authority knows is when a report fails to arrive.
Deal with it in the drafting. Require the developer to give the management company the travel plan, the agreement and the monitoring history before handover. Require the management company to enter into the relevant obligations or be bound as a successor in title. Name the handover trigger, and require written notice to the authority of the new coordinator's details within a stated period.
A well-drafted travel plan runs from the transport evidence through the obligation to the people who will operate it. PlanScope drafts the Travel Plan and the supporting transport documents from your scheme details, then flags the figures a transport planner still needs to confirm before submission.
This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.
Frequently asked questions
Why can a travel plan monitoring fee not be secured by condition?
Planning conditions control the use and development of land and cannot lawfully require payments to the authority. A condition attempting it fails the tests in Planning Practice Guidance. Monitoring fees, coordinator funding and bonds are financial obligations, so they belong in a section 106 agreement and must satisfy the three tests in regulation 122 of the Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010.
What should trigger the first travel plan survey?
An occupation level rather than a calendar date, which is fairer on a phased scheme. A common formulation is a survey within a stated number of months of a stated proportion of units being occupied, then repeat surveys at fixed intervals. Fix the method, sample size, season and who pays in the agreement so that results stay comparable.
What is a travel plan bond and when is it drawn down?
A sum secured by the section 106 agreement that the authority can draw on if monitoring shows targets missed and remedial measures undelivered. The agreement should state the sum or formula, the monitoring result that triggers a draw-down, the cure period allowed, and the dates at which the bond reduces and is finally released.
Who pays for the travel plan coordinator?
On residential schemes the developer normally funds the role until handover, after which estate charges carried by the management company take over. On commercial schemes the occupier usually absorbs it. State the period in the agreement, because an open-ended coordinator obligation with no end date will cause problems on sale and with funders.
Can travel plan targets be changed later?
Only if the agreement allows it. Build a variation mechanism into the review points so targets can be revisited where circumstances have plainly changed, such as a bus service the plan relied on being withdrawn. Without one, the only route is a deed of variation, and unrealistic plans tend simply to be ignored instead.
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.