A Travel Plan enables an organisation to manage and deliver its sustainable transport objectives through positive action. The plan provides a long-term management strategy, and is articulated in a document that is regularly reviewed.

A Travel Plan typically focuses on day-to-day journeys made by staff and visitors to a particular site, but can be used to manage any travel related activities including business travel, fleet operations and deliveries. The plan involves the identification of a set of objectives with explicit outcomes linked to an appropriate package of measures aimed at enabling travel by a range of modes and encouraging more sustainable travel. Carbon reduction objectives can be addressed by tailoring measures to reduce the carbon intensity of travel.

A range of objectives including the following can be addressed:

Managing site access and congestion
Enabling site expansion by attaining planning consents and meeting planning conditions and obligations
Reducing the cost and carbon intensity of business travel
Improving site utilisation and productivity
Providing staff benefits and supporting recruitment and retention
Improving staff health and wellbeing,

A key element of the Travel Planning process is to seek to match the travel opportunities with an understanding of people’s travel attitudes and behaviours. The result should provide people with greater access to – and choices for – the journeys they make. As such, a Travel Plan reflects the unique circumstances of the organisation and site to which it applies, through the selection of appropriate and tailored solutions.

A further benefit of the approach is that a common set of tools can be adapted and applied across a range of settings, including:

Workplaces
Visitor and leisure attractions
Residential settings
Higher education establishments

Having worked with many different organisations, we can help identify, develop and implement the best strategy for your organisation’s needs.

Carbon Management

By getting to the heart of travel opportunity and choice, a Travel Plan is the ideal tool to address and manage the carbon footprint of travel. For the purposes of carbon assessment and reporting, The Green Consultancy can develop mechanisms for measuring carbon emissions from commuting and business travel.

Delivering a reduction in the carbon intensity of travel activities is a realistic objective for a Travel Plan, as we can help identify the appropriate measures that will make this possible.
Travel plan targets can feed into a broader carbon management strategy, with key performance indicators providing a measurable link into Environmental Management Systems, such as ISO14001.

Services

We are able to offer a wide range of Travel Planning Services. We can:

Advise on the need for – and specification – of a Travel Plan
Develop Travel Plans from scratch
Support in-house resources in the development, implementation or management
of Travel Plans
Monitor, review and update existing Travel Plans

An overview of our capability is provided below, but please contact us to discuss your
exact requirements.

Site Audit and Review

A Site Audit and Review is a common starting point for any travel planning service, as it forms the basis of understanding of the operation and function of a site. The review determines the availability and opportunity provided by the facilities and transport links the site may already have, and considers any existing relevant documentation such as organisational travel policies, strategies or pre-existing Travel Plans and planning status (if relevant). The audit enables an assessment to identify and prioritise those areas that need attention.

Travel Surveys

Understanding how people travel and use a site is critical to the Travel Plan process, which is grounded in a thorough understanding of people’s attitudes and behaviours around travel. We can devise, roll out and analyse travel surveys to generate valuable data that will inform strategy development.

Strategy Development

The Travel Plan Strategy is a management document which sets out the objectives, targets and indicators for the Travel Plan, along with the actions and measures that need to be taken. We have extensive experience of devising robust strategies in a range of settings.

Depending upon the objectives of the client, a Travel Plan Strategy can address commuting, business travel, visitors and servicing of a site. Reflecting its status as a management tool, a Travel Plan Strategy should include a programme for implementation (incorporating future monitoring and review), detail the management arrangements and include a marketing and communication strategy to detail how the Travel Plan will be communicated with the target audience and other stakeholders.

From our experience, we understand that for the Travel Plan to be effective, it should be rooted within the organisation, and we seek to embed Travel Plans within any existing activities or management arrangements you may have.

Implementation

Implementation and management of the Travel Plan can be a daunting process. We can develop a tailored programme of support that provides assistance when you need it most. This assistance is scalable – we can help to implement and manage the entire travel plan, or just discrete elements, and we can provide everything from hands-on help to remote support. Our key objective is to give you the knowledge, skills and confidence to take the process forward.

Monitoring and Review

A Travel Plan should include a process for continual improvement. Monitoring and review are therefore important in order to establish how far the Travel Plan has proved successful. The process needs to operate on strategic and site-specific aspects to ensure the plan remains focussed and reflects changing circumstances at all levels.

In addition to advising on monitoring and review strategies for new Travel Plans, we are also able to undertake monitoring and review of an existing Travel Plan. Our reporting and recommending further actions can operate as an independent ‘health check’ of your Travel Plan. You also may wish to refocus the objectives of a pre-existing Travel Plan, for which monitoring and review is a useful starting point.

Standards

The unique, organisation-specific nature of Travel Plans means there is no standard form to their content. Despite this, there is a wealth of guidance documentation and possible standards to which a Travel Plan may be developed, some of which is sector-specific. We can assist in the identification and selection of the most appropriate response to meet your needs.

Spatial Planning Guidance

Where Travel Plans are developed in relation to planning applications, the guidance of the Local Planning Authority is most relevant. The national policy framework is supportive of travel planning, with a range of relevant policy statements and guidance. The most relevant and useful national guidance is produced by the Department for Transport and Communities and Local Government in Good Practice Guidelines: Delivering Travel Plans through the Planning Process (2009).

At the local level, these policy objectives are typically met through local planning policies, supplementary planning documents and specific guidance. Within London, specific policy guidance is provided by Transport for London in Travel Planning For New Development In London (2011). Any planning-related travel plan should reflect these national and local policy requirements.

BREEAM

BREEAM (Building Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method) is a commonly used environmental assessment method for buildings. It seeks to establish standards for best practice in sustainable design and measurement of a building’s environmental performance. Credits are awarded in ten categories according to performance, with transport being one category.

The development of a Travel Plan to address access and travel can enhance a building’s assessment. BREEAM provides the necessary framework against which transport – and, specifically, a Travel plan – can be developed.

PAS 500:2008 National Specification For Travel Plans

This Publicly Available Specification (PAS) is endorsed by the British Standards Institution (BSI) and is intended for use by any organisation planning or developing a workplace Travel Plan. As a PAS, this standard has the functionality of a British Standard for the purposes of creating management systems as it defines the requirements for developing and implementing a workplace travel plan, including public availability, resources and claims of conformity.

It provides a process for graded certification – Bronze, Silver and Gold – however there is presently no accreditation body, so PAS 500 may be used as a good practice guide with self-accreditation. Some Local Planning Authorities use PAS 500 as a mechanism for assessing the acceptability of planning related Travel Plans.

Client Comments

The following are typical comments about the work of our Senior Travel Planning Consultant.

“Your consultant has:

provided expert advice and helped us develop our strategy around travel
obtained data from surveys, interpreted that data and built our travel plan ready for submission to the Local Authorities and Highways Agency
demonstrated a broad and excellent knowledge of Travel Plans, both for business and commuter travel
knowledge of the different policies, processes and interests of the local authorities and, in particular, the Highways Agency that is second to none
given sound advice in a quiet helpful manner whilst making sure that he manages our often unreasonable expectations and our frustrations with travel and building planning issues.”

Stephen Weeks, Strategic Development Manager,
EDF Energy Customer Services

“Your consultant was professional yet approachable with respect to all aspects of project delivery, from keeping the authority updated on progress to maintaining a close link with the public… always had time to discuss new ideas, review progress and provide recommendations… travel planning project coordinated effectively with other work streams… showing consideration to external stakeholders such as local schools and businesses… at times pre-empting situations, such as anticipating conflict with other events in the area.”
Sarah Avery, Travel Plan Officer
Gloucestershire County Council

For your no obligation quote, or to discuss your requirements, please contact Michael Webb or phone him on 08450 176299.