Better Connected: a strategy for integrated transport is the right direction of travel – delivery systems must now catch up

By Nicola Kane, Chair of the TPS

The publication of Better Connected marks a genuinely significant moment for transport planning. For many across the profession, it is the clearest indication in years that national policy is shifting toward a more integrated, people-focused and place-based approach. Its emphasis on simpler journeys, accessibility, health, stronger local leadership, and better use of data points firmly in the right direction. Just as importantly, the strategy begins to articulate transport not as an end in itself but as a means of accessing opportunity, services and communities. That shift matters and echoes much of what the Transport Planning Society has been calling for in recent years.

We have long argued that transport works best when it is treated as a vital part of a wider vision for thriving people and places. In that sense, there is much in Better Connected to welcome; the stronger role for local leaders, the recognition that transport and development must be treated as interdependent, and the move toward more vision-led Local Transport Plans are all positive and overdue. The strategy also rightly acknowledges that transport decisions must deliver against multiple outcomes simultaneously, including economic growth, decarbonisation, social equity, public health, resilience and placemaking.

Welcoming the direction of travel, however, should not distract from the distance still to go. The real challenge now is not the strategic intent but whether the systems, tools and institutions that shape day-to-day decision making are aligned. This is where both the profession and government still have considerable work to do.

A recurring concern among TPS members is that policy language is evolving faster than the delivery machinery beneath it. We now talk confidently about vision-led planning and healthier, more accessible places, yet many of the tools used to justify schemes and allocate funding are still rooted in predict‑and‑provide logic.

Equally, demand management must now be considered alongside infrastructure and service improvements as a core part of national and local approaches, supporting behaviour change and, in some cases, reducing the need to travel altogether.

This is especially evident in the long‑standing disconnect between transport, planning and land use. Better Connected recognises this more clearly than previous strategies, and its focus on integrated planning and stronger local plans is welcome. But unless transport assessments move beyond peak‑hour impacts and junction capacity, the wider ambition will be undermined. Continued alignment between Better Connected, Local Transport Plan guidance, the National Planning Policy Framework and appraisal reform is therefore essential.

It will also be important that national and local transport funding is better aligned to deliver the Better Connected vision – with investment in strategic roads and rail schemes also being grounded in the needs of people and places through deeper collaboration between local and national transport bodies on future investment pipelines. The strategy’s role as a national framework that enables flexible local choices is a strength, but only if funding systems and appraisal processes genuinely give places the confidence to pursue different approaches, including road space reallocation, demand management and digital solutions tailored to local need.

At the same time, the profession must be more confident in discussing trade‑offs. Debates too easily become polarised between growth and climate, motorists and active travel, local access and strategic movement. Good transport planning is about navigating these tensions openly, using evidence, community insight and clarity of vision. That means engaging earlier, being clearer about objectives and being honest about difficult choices. Consensus‑building is central to successful delivery.

And there is a pressing capability challenge. Local leaders are rightly being given greater responsibility, but responsibility must be matched by long-term funding certainty, capacity-building and the confidence to innovate and deliver at pace. Stable multi‑year settlements matter because they allow authorities to build teams and invest in the behavioural, digital and on-the-ground improvements that enable better transport systems.  TPS is well placed, with its skills pathways and programmes, to support local and national transport bodies to build the capability they need to deliver on the bold ambition in the Better Connected strategy.

This is where Better Connected has created a real opportunity. If national government can maintain consistency of purpose, and if the supporting frameworks and funding evolve in the same direction, the profession has the foundations for a more resilient, equitable and sustainable transport system.

This is, in many ways, the right strategy at the right time, bringing together much of what the industry has long argued for.

For the TPS, alignment between transport, planning and land use remains one of the defining issues of the coming years. The next test is whether this national vision genuinely empowers local authorities not just to improve transport supply, but to shape demand and travel behaviour in ways that better support people and places. Ultimately, the success of Better Connected will not be judged by the quality of its vision, but by whether it changes the everyday decisions that shape the places people live in.