The Transport and Developments SPD (Supplementary Planning Document) gives additional details and guidance on how we expect proposals for new development to plan for the transport needs of users.
The wider council policy context
As a council, we declared a Climate Emergency in March 2019, and an Ecological Emergency in July 2019, with an Emergency Action Plan designed to achieve Carbon Neutrality by 2030. Transport accounts for 29% of our region's carbon emissions, and is therefore an important part of our efforts to achieve this goal.
We need to act fast to reduce transport emissions in our area. We aim to do this with a major shift to mass transport, walking and cycling. We have set the following targets, to be reached by 2030:
- Reducing vehicle mileage by 25% per person
- Reducing petrol and diesel-powered vehicles to just 10% of those on the roads
Enabling more active modes of travel, such as walking and cycling, can also dramatically affect public health, reducing levels of chronic illnesses such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes, and improving mental health. We know that disadvantaged areas tend to have more main roads, leading to poorer air quality, higher noise levels and higher accident rates, making health inequalities worse.
Transport Policy therefore offers a great opportunity to contribute to better health, well-being, safety and security, and to improve health inequalities, for those who live, work and travel in B&NES.
Read more about our work on the Climate Emergency
Read more about our consultations on travel and transport policy
The Planning policy context
This SPD supports policies in our Local Plan Partial Update (LPPU), in providing additional guidance on how we expect new development and major redevelopment to be delivered sustainably. As part of our Local Plan Partial Update we are also enhancing our transport policies (ST1-ST8) to strengthen the commitment and requirement for sustainable development.
The SPD provides clarity for anyone involved in the development process for 'what good looks like' to us as a Planning authority. Developers and their agents must adhere to it, and we will use it to evaluate planning proposals. Residents, stakeholders and interested parties can use this document in considering and commenting on transport elements of development proposals.
Previous consultation
The LPPU Issues and Options consultation (Jan to Feb 2021) included the principles of this proposed SPD. We have acted on feedback from that consultation to draft this new SPD.
Originally, we were proposing four separate documents to cover the main topic areas of the SPD: walking and cycling, parking, ultra-low emissions vehicles (ULEV) and Travel Plans. We have now combined these into a single SPD for ease of use, with the contents remaining the same. For more detail on the topics and how we treat them in the SPD, see the Document overview page.