What is a travel plan?

A travel plan is a long-term management strategy for an occupier or site that seeks to deliver sustainable transport objectives through action, and is articulated in a document that is regularly reviewed. A travel plan involves the development of agreed and explicit outcomes linked to an appropriate package of measures aimed at encouraging more sustainable travel for both people and goods.

Travel plans developed as a requirement of a granting of Planning Permission or a Section 106 agreement must include an action plan, targets and a programme for review and monitoring. Occupiers who subsequently fail to implement, monitor or review their travel plan will be in breach of the terms of their Planning Permission. If it is considered there has been a breach of planning control this could result in enforcement or legal action being taken by the Local Planning Authority.

Monitoring your travel plan

Monitoring is an integral part of every travel plan; it is essential to track progress of the plan and refine its future delivery where the travel plan is not on track to achieve its agreed targets.

How often should monitoring be done?

The original travel plan that was approved by the Council for your site should contain the requirements of your monitoring regime. As a general rule, it is expected that monitoring will be undertaken within 6 months of occupation and at Years 1, 3 and 5 as a minimum. For large-scale developments some West London boroughs require a continuation of monitoring in Years 8 and 10 as part of a ten year schedule (see individual Travel Plan document or Planning Condition to determine if this applies to your site).

Where targets are NOT achieved at the end of the defined monitoring period (e.g. Year 5 or Year 10), additional monitoring surveys may be required until proof of achievement is provided.

How should monitoring be carried out?

All sites in London use a standard methodology for monitoring travel plans. It is important to follow this standard methodology so that monitoring of travel plans is consistent across London.

All sites must either carry out an iTRACE-compliant survey, or a TRAVL survey. If you are unsure which is required, you should check your original travel plan or contact WestTrans Travel Plans who can advise on survey requirements.

iTRACE-compliant surveys

An iTRACE-compliant survey is a survey that includes the following question using the categories listed below:

What is your main mode of travel? ('Main mode' is the one that you are on for the longest distance of your journey):

• Drive a car alone
• Car share driver
• Car share passenger
• Motorcycle
• Bus
• Tram
• Underground
• Rail
• Bike/Rail
• Bicycle
• Foot
• Other

Other questions that will usefully inform the travel plan can be asked - although these are not compulsory for the survey to be 'iTRACE-compliant'. Useful information to collect can include home postcode, reasons for choosing mode of travel, or additional measures that would encourage people to travel sustainably.

Ideally, all staff associated with the site should be surveyed but for large sites a sample of staff will be acceptable. Surveys can be administered using paper-based surveys, web-based surveys or a mix of both.

Organisations may choose to use the generic survey available on the iTRACE website rather than create their own survey. iTRACE can generate a link to the survey which can be emailed to people to complete. To carry out an iTRACE survey, please contact the WestTrans Monitoring Officers.

Sites should aim for a minimum 30% response rate although in some cases a higher response rate may be required to ensure data is robust. Incentives and reminders can be used to ensure that an acceptable response is achieved. A survey period of two weeks is typically used to give as many people as possible the chance to enter.

TRAVL surveys

TRAVL surveys collect information about the absolute number of vehicles generated by a site (including levels of on-street and off-street parking) as well as the mode split of staff/ visitors leaving / entering a site on the survey day (7am-7pm).

The TRAVL survey must be compliant with the established TRAVL methodology and should be undertaken by an approved supplier. The full list of approved suppliers can be found on the TRAVL website: www.TRAVL.org.uk


For more information, please refer to the New Way to Plan Technical Note: iTRACE and TRAVL compliancy which can be found at:

newwaytoplan.tfl.gov.uk

Reporting

The results of monitoring should be submitted to your Local Authority in a monitoring report. The monitoring report should include:

1. A summary of actions undertaken to date,
2. The results of the surveys and
3. An action plan going forward for how you will deliver your Travel Plan

A template for this is available to download below.


For more information, please contact:

WestTrans Travel Plans
travelplans.westtrans.org

e: westtranstravelplans@ealing.gov.uk

t: 0208 825 8075 / 9635