NPPF and vision-led transport

The long-awaited National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) was published in December 2024 and we were waiting with bated breath to see if the anticipated revolution in transport policy would become national policy. While it has certainly moved the dial towards vision-led planning, some will argue that the opportunity for more radical change to transport policy has not been fully grasped.

The Directors of Rovia have been proponents of vision-led transport planning for many years, as it has long been acknowledged that we need to think differently about planning. We need to design healthy and vibrant places for people, and move beyond maximising the convenience of car travel during the commuter peak period, whilst recognising that at present the car may be the only realistic travel alternative that some people have. This requires changes across the transport profession from development planning to Local Plans, economic appraisals and central government funding to ensure the best schemes are promoted and delivered. We are hopeful that the new NPPF provides that foundation.

The NPPF creates a national position that a positive vision-led approach to transport is expected and that developers and Local Authorities need to create their desired vision and then promote schemes and Local Plans which achieve this. It also states clearly that the context of each development needs to be assessed in terms of location and land use.

The new NPPF requires Local Plans to deliver on the required sustainable transport interventions which benefit existing and future communities – not just provide access and highway improvements.

It affirms that transport issues should be considered from the earliest stages of plan-making. Developers and land promoters often involve us very early in the development of a Local Plan to ensure that the necessary visioning and technical work has been undertaken and the Infrastructure Delivery Plans include appropriate measures to meet the intended vision. This can ease the passage of subsequent planning applications.

A further key to success is early engagement with key local stakeholders and the updated NPPF supports this approach.

The NPPF provides a definition of sustainable transport in the glossary as follows:

“Sustainable transport modes: Any efficient, safe and accessible means of transport with overall low impact on the environment, including walking and cycling, ultra low and zero emission vehicles, car sharing and public transport.”

We note the objective of an overall low impact on the environment and the inclusion of car sharing which can be an effective way of achieving modal shift in certain circumstances.

The key ‘severe’ test remains at Paragraph 116, however it has been updated.

“Development should only be prevented or refused on highways grounds if there would be an unacceptable impact on highway safety, or the residual cumulative impacts on the road network, following mitigation, would be severe, taking into account all reasonable future scenarios.”

The first change to this paragraph is that it now references mitigation. It is hoped that developers and authorities take a broad approach to mitigation i.e. sustainable measures that reduce traffic impact as well as targeted highway improvements.

The phrase: “taking into account all reasonable future scenarios” is new. There is the danger that some authorities interpret this as including “worst case” scenarios that reflect a predict and provide approach. As an industry we must work together to seek to avoid this and that the reasonableness test should tie the scenarios to the vision led approach.

Monitor and manage is a further tool in the box and will be key to ensuring that uncertainty does not mean that Local Authorities feel obliged to require greater highway interventions than the vision envisages.

In summary, the NPPF provides the opportunity for a further evolution of transport policy and practice whilst retaining some risks. As an industry, we should seek to work together to create great and sustainable places and provide opportunities for people to undertake their journeys in a sustainable manner.