The Government’s integrated transport strategy Better Connected does a tremendous job of setting out a people-centred vision for integrated transport, says Himanshu Budhiraja, director of urban mobility at built environment consultancy Pell Frischmann, one which is ‘deliberately framed around the high-level principles of ‘People, Place and Partnership’ and eight priorities that centre on simplicity, safety, accessibility, health, development, data, decision-making and local empowerment.’
However, he says, it is the updated Local Transport Plans guidance, published on the same day back in April and holding statutory force, that sets out what authorities must include in their plans and how performance will be monitored. And it is this guidance which provides the meat of LTAs’ new obligations.
“The funding model set out in the guidance is a genuine improvement, and its vision-led approach gives authorities the statutory backing to make the case for investment. LTAs are asked to set out what they actually want to achieve and work backwards. Many will find this vastly preferable to the old predict-and-provide model in which it was necessary, for example, to forecast how many cars there would be, then build roads to fit them.
“The guidance is statutory, which means its plethora of prescriptive musts and shoulds carry real weight. For example, where LTAs were previously required to navigate a fragmented landscape of competitive funding pots with short timescales and uncertain renewal, the guidance supports a shift towards multi-year settlements and consolidated funding streams. And where transport governance has historically been complicated by overlapping responsibilities and competing priorities across different tiers of local government, the guidance provides a clearer framework for who does what and how strategies should align. In the past, individual transport modes were too often planned in isolation. Now, the guidance’s requirement to align LTPs with strategies covering buses, active travel, electric vehicle infrastructure and spatial development creates a common structure for integration.”
Taken together, the musts and shoulds add up to something more than compliance requirements. They are the scaffolding for a more coherent, better-funded and more joined-up approach to local transport planning than England has seen for a generation.
Mr Budhiraja continues:
“For example, active travel does not sit in isolation in the guidance, and LTAs would be missing an important opportunity if they treated it as though it does. Going further than previous guidance documents, the new LTP guidance insists on the importance of multimodal integration, in particular the idea that walking, cycling, bus, tram and rail should not be treated as competing priorities but as components of a single, seamless network.
“One ramification of this is that LTAs will need to start taking measures to ensure that no single stage of a journey undermines the whole. This means thinking about mobility hubs in the form of physical interchange points, and about strengthening integrated ticketing systems and network connectivity.”
The guidance’s requirement to, for example, align LTPs with bus service improvement plans, local cycling and walking infrastructure plans and electric vehicle charging strategies is not bureaucratic box-ticking, he insists, it’s an integrated vision. LTAs do not recognise this, and that continue to plan each mode separately, will find it harder to produce an LTP that demonstrates the alignment the guidance requires.
“When it comes to the concept of the 15-minute neighbourhood, it’s worth noting that Better Connected set out an expectation that where new housing is built near existing transport routes density, should be maximised. The guidance reinforces this by requiring LTPs to align with spatial development strategies and local plans. This means that LTAs would be well-advised to start conversations with their planning colleagues immediately, rather than after a site is allocated, particularly as one of the eight priorities within Better Connected is explicitly to ‘Align transport and development,’ a significant change because it elevates transport from being a consultee function to being a co-author of place-making strategies.”
He concludes:
“Ultimately, what everyone wants to know is whether the guidance gives LTAs the right framework, funding and partnerships to actually deliver. The blunt answer is yes. In relation to the framework there is increased clarity and an outcomes focus, when it comes to funding the integrated settlements are better than competitive bidding, and when it comes to partnerships the guidance creates stronger expectations for partnership modes of working.
“It is true that delivery will still depend on the willingness and capacity of external partners, as the guidance places clear expectations on LTAs to work across organisational boundaries, but does not impose statutory obligations on partners outside the LTA. However, while there are some real delivery risks, the guidance is fundamentally designed to enable integration, certainty and long-term transport planning rather than simply impose additional burdens. As such it is greatly to be welcomed.”
(Picture: Pell Frischmann)
