New Senior Route to TPP Qualification

In response to requests for a replacement to the initial TPP Senior Route, a new route to the TPP qualification has been created for senior, highly experienced transport planners.

To apply for the TPP by this new route, rather than the Professional Review Route, candidates must:

• demonstrate extensive experience as a project manager or director a across a range of transport planning skills
• demonstrate extensive experience as a project manager or director  across a range of transport modes, and in a range of policy and planning contexts
• have made a substantial contribution to the transport planning profession over their career to date
• be in a senior management position with responsibility for a team of transport planners, and the direction of a variety of transport planning projects
• contribute to the professional development of transport planning staff, and commit to working as a TPP mentor

They also need to demonstrate:

• Proficiency in six of the TPP Technical (Section A) units, including at least three from the Mandatory set (of which one must be A3, Data) and one from the Choice Set
• Experience in each of the six Mandatory Technical units for which Proficiency is not Mandatory or that has not been selected as a Proficiency unit
• Experience in at least one Technical Choice Set unit that has not been selected as a Proficiency unit
• Proficiency in all three TPP Management (Section B) units
• competence across modes, since a professional transport planner should be able to work in different modal contexts and, particularly, in multi-modal contexts since a professional transport planner should be able to work in different modal contexts and, particularly, in multi-modal contexts
• completion of at least 25 hours CPD a year fro the last two years.

Finally, they need to be sponsored by two professional transport planners who are able to vouch for their competence based on personal knowledge of the candidate.

The new Senior Route will be launched shortly, once the fees have been fixed.  Information on it will be available at www.tpprofessional.org/

It will be possible to submit applications at any time.

TPP Made Easier for Planners with a Degree from Outside the UK

Up to now, any transport planner without a UK Honours degree has had to first submit a Technical Report, through which they demonstrate that they have achieved learning outcomes comparable to those expected of candidates with a UK Honours degree together with education or training in transport planning.

However, that has now changed. 

Anyone with a degree from outside the UK which the government agency UK NARIC considers equivalent to a UK Honours, and has issued a 'Statement of Comparability' confirming that, can apply as though they had a UK Honours degree,  They can obtain a Statement of Comparability by applying at www.naric.org.uk/index.asp?page=17.

Hurry! TPP Professional Review Submissions

The closing date for applications for a TPP Professional Review in May is Friday 9 April.

The next set of Professional Reviews will be in November, for which applications are required by Friday 1 October.

Further information is at www.tpprofessional.org/

Employers Commit to the TPP

At a meeting of senior representatives of transport planning employers, nearly all made a commitment to recognising the TPP as a key step in career development.  All recognised it as being at least equivalent to CEng, and several said they would award a one-off cash bonus to those who succeed in obtaining the qualification.  Most employers also said they met the costs of the TPP fees, although some only pay them on success!