The first 13 transport planners have qualified as Transport Planning Professionals, satisfying the requirements of the new professional qualification launched by IHT together with TPS in March. 

The qualification has been designed to provide transport planners with the professional recognition accorded to Chartered Engineers (CEng) and members of institutes such as RTPI, and is based on the National Occupational Standards for Transport Planning developed by sector skills council GoSkills and TPS.

Twenty two candidates participated in the first pilot round, submitting their Portfolios of Evidence in May and having their Professional Review interviews in June, which were conducted by teams of experienced CEng and transport planning reviewers.  Whilst almost all of those candidates who were not successful lacked the required breadth of experience and proficiency, they have the potential to satisfy the requirements with further experience. 

Four of the successful candidates are TPS members, Carline Cozens, Plymouth City Council; Hilary Holden, Arup; Andrew Moseley, Waterham-Boreham and Annie Tomlinson, Test Valley Borough Council.

Bill Wyley, TPS Chair, said “the award of the TPP qualification to each of these candidates marks an enormously important step in establishing transport planning as a profession – one of the Society’s key missions.  I congratulate all of the successful candidates, and thank all who participated in this first round of applications, from which we have learned much.”

Keith Mitchell, Chair of the TPP Professional Standards Committee and past TPS Chair, said 'We are delighted with the interest in this important IHT and TPS initiative, with enthusiastic candidates, who clearly see the qualification as an important recognition of their professional standing. I would like to congratulate all the successful candidates for achieving this challenging award and encourage all those who didn't quite make it this time to continue with their professional development so that they can achieve their goals in the future. We believe that the TPP qualification will strengthen our profession, and help to attract the high quality entrants we need to meet the UK's considerable transport challenges.'

The next round of Professional Reviews will be in December, for which candidates need to submit their Portfolio of Evidence by 7 November.  Further information is available at http://www.iht.org/educationtraining/ptp.asp