• Consultancies believe TPS skills programme offers them a competitive advantage
• Consultancies drop in house training packages in favour of TPS programmes
• Professional Development Scheme covers costs just 18 months after launch

Half the top 10 firms in NCE's Consultants File of transport planners and half of the top 20 have obtained a licence to offer the Transport Planning Society’s Professional Development Scheme (PDS) to staff.

The response from the industry means that the PDS has proved a financially viable service for the TPS to offer, 18 months after being set up. Companies and local authorities pay subscriptions of up to £2,500 to TPS to offer the programme to staff. In addition, Transport for London has obtained a licence as have Hampshire and Leicestershire county councils.

The PDS, launched last February, is the first cross-industry skills development programme for the transport planning profession. It caters for those starting a career in transport planning, as well as for those already in the profession wishing to obtain a broad range of skills.

TPS skills director Martin Richards said that the Professional Development Scheme "now has sufficient licensees to ensure we can maintain it" and that he had been encouraged by the industry's response. With a large number of major consultancies now offering the PDS to employees, he believes it will increasingly become recognised as the industry standard, encouraging greater numbers of companies to obtain a licence. Already, the PDS is seen by some firms as giving them a competitive advantage in the jobs market.



"Companies have told us that offering the Professional Development Scheme will boost their ability to attract the best employees," Martin Richards said. "In addition, if someone has been moving through the stages of PDS at one firm, they are likely to want any new employer to offer it too."



"There is also the possibility that the recession will mean the government places more emphasis on transport planning and less on actual construction," he added. "In that situation, companies with highly developed transport planning skills would benefit."



Martin Richards said that he had been encouraged that firms offering the PDS had been willing to work together to share experience through Scheme Workshops to enable their employees to gain the greatest benefits from it.

The 10 consultancies from the NCE list top 20 who have signed up are Atkins, Colin Buchanan, Halcrow, Hyder, Mott Macdonald, Mouchel, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Peter Brett, RPS and WSP.


Meanwhile, 58 experienced transport planners have applied under the Senior Route for TPS’s Transport Planning Professional qualification. The successful candidates will provide their organisations with the mentors as well as the reviewers and assessors needed to cope with the expected demand for the new qualification in coming years. Martin Richards said it was noticeable that several consultancies had put a number of people through the Senior Route suggesting that TPP would be regarded as the transport planning qualification of choice at some firms.



Some companies, including Atkins, have dropped their in-house transport planning training programmes in favour of a PDS/TPP package.

Further Information

To arrange an interview, please call Hannah Curtis 0207 665 2238

About the Transport Planning Society

TPS is the country’s leading professional body for transport planners and provides the only skills development programmes and qualifications dedicated to the profession.

It has regional forums throughout all areas of the UK.

Membership has increased over 40% in the past two years.