Travel Plans at a Turning Point, Says TPS

TPS has recently undertaken what we believe is the first profession-wide survey on development-related Travel Plans for some considerable time. The survey received 190 responses, of which 158 provided substantive answers.

The headline point is that whilst the profession does not appear to have lost faith in the purpose of Travel Planning - it has lost confidence in the current system through which Travel Plans are commissioned, secured, monitored and enforced.

Travel Plans are still strongly supported as a mechanism for changing travel behaviour, reducing car dependency and supporting healthier, more sustainable places. However, respondents are very clear that Travel Plans are too often treated as a compliance document rather than a delivery mechanism.

• Only 17% of respondents said Travel Plans usually deliver their identified priorities;
• 91% agreed that local authority requirements, support and enforcement are inconsistent and vary significantly;
• 85% agreed that Travel Plans are treated as a tick-box exercise;
• 83% agreed that there are inadequate consequences when Travel Plan objectives are not achieved;
• 93% supported the need to measure the accuracy of Transport Assessment trip-rate predictions after occupation;
• 69% said Travel Planning should change or be replaced under a vision-led approach;
• 80% rated greater local authority monitoring and enforcement resource as critical.

The survey also found that Travel Plans can carry material planning weight without equivalent accountability. Around 39% of respondents said vehicular trip-rate targets are relied upon often or very frequently to make development acceptable, yet the same system has weak post-occupation validation and limited consequences when outcomes are not achieved.

These findings are particularly pertinent in the context of vision-led planning, as there is a risk that Travel Plans remain paper commitments used to obtain consent, rather than mechanisms for delivering the agreed vision.

The key conclusion from the survey is that Travel Plans need to be repositioned. They should not be seen merely as a mitigation document, a behaviour-change appendix or a post-occupation compliance report. In a vision-led system, they should form the enforceable delivery and monitoring component of the movement strategy. The Travel Plans at a Turning Point (2026) report sets out a practical reform framework and a suggested programme for action to achieve this.

TPS hopes the report will stimulate discussion across government, local authorities, developers, consultants and the wider transport and planning profession about how the Transport Assessment, Travel Plan and actual post-occupation outcomes can be integrated, and what this means for the planning process.