Cheshire East Council is currently reviewing its Transport Assessment Guidance. As part of this process, updated Travel Planning Guidance will be included to ensure it reflects current policy, best practice, and the council’s local transport objectives. Further updates on the publication of the revised guidance will be posted on this webpage later this year.
A travel plan is a set of measures that are designed to help promote sustainable transport within a school, a business or a residential development, with the main aim of reducing travel by single occupancy vehicles. A successful travel plan will give anyone travelling to or from their place of work, education or home a choice of travel options and encourage them to use the more sustainable ones. Effective travel plans will also include measures to manage parking on the site.
Travel plans and planning applications
In many cases, a travel plan will be required as part of a planning condition.
Indicative travel plan thresholds
Below are indicative thresholds at which we would normally consider a travel plan to be appropriate as part of a planning application.
It should be noted that a wide range of other circumstances may require a Travel Plan for smaller developments, for example where transport network conditions are already congested, or where localised impacts associated with the development are otherwise particularly acute.
| Land Use | IndicativeThreshold | Requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Residential | 100 units | Travel Plan at Planning Stage, followed by Residents’ Welcome Packs upon Development Completion. |
| Employment | 2,500 sq.m additional floor space | Travel Plan at Planning Stage (or Framework Travel Plan for multi-occupier developments). Ongoing monitoring required. |
| Mixed Use Development | Case-by-case | Framework Travel Plan at Planning Stage. Ongoing monitoring required. |
| Education Development | All new build or extension | Travel Plan at Planning Stage, followed by ongoing monitoring. |
| Other Developments, e.g. Garden Village | Case-by-case | Travel Plan at Planning Stage (or Framework Travel Plan for multi-occupier developments), followed by ongoing monitoring. |
Travel plan monitoring
Monitoring your Travel Plan will help you to identify the progress made towards meeting your objectives and targets. It will also help you to identify priority initiatives for your Travel Plan in the next period. You should aim to monitor progress at least once a year (if your Travel Plan was written as part of a planning condition or S106 agreement then you will have agreed to submit an annual monitoring report to Cheshire East Council for a period of five years).
You will need to report progress to your steering group, employees, and the local Planning and Highway Authorities if the Travel Plan is being developed to discharge a planning condition. You should clearly identify review points for your Travel Plan at an early stage in the Travel Plan process.
Travel Plan monitoring submissions may be subject to a Monitoring Fee to reflect the time required for Cheshire East Council to review documentation and provide appropriate advice. You should contact the Cheshire East Council Highways Development Management team for guidance on whether a monitoring fee would be applicable at: highwaysdm@cheshireeast.gov.uk
Help with travel planning
- Business planning advice - toolkits covering various aspects of developing an organisational travel plan
- School travel planning
- Personal travel planner
- Cheshire East Guide to Business Travel Planning (PDF, 560KB)
We can offer one-to-one guidance if needed. Contact the Policy and Accessibility Team for more information.