Planning for Rutland’s Future - Issues and Options Consultation
Issue 7: Promoting sustainable and active modes of travel
Strategic Objective 12: Ensuring development is supported by essential infrastructure and services and promotes safe movement and more sustainable modes of travel by enhancing greener travel networks for walking, cycling and public transport.
The NPPF sets out the importance of sustainability in relation to transport, in particular the need to ensure developments that generate significant movements are located where the need for travel will be minimised and the use of sustainable travel can be maximised. The Council recognises that improving accessibility and providing realistic alternatives to car travel in a rural area like Rutland is particularly challenging. Residents without access to a private car can be isolated and have significant issues in accessing employment, education, and training as well as other services and facilities.
The Local Plan will also need to have regard to the NPPF's direction that the residual cumulative highway impacts associated with new development would need to be 'severe' before development could be refused or prevented.
Local Transport Plan 4
The location of new development can have significant impact on achieving sustainable patterns of travel and accessibility. The Council's role as the highway and planning authority is central to meeting the Council's strategic objectives and is primarily guided by the Council's Local Transport Plan (LTP). The Spatial Strategy needs to be designed to reduce need to travel by car through locating development proposals in the most accessible locations.
The Local Plan will need to take account Rutland's fourth Local Transport Plan (LTP4) which runs through to 2036 and sets out the overall strategy and some of the delivery arrangements for transport across the County. The vision of LTP4 is to deliver a transport network and services that:
- facilitate delivery of sustainable population and economic growth.
- meet the needs of Rutland's most vulnerable residents; and
- support a high level of health and wellbeing (including combating rural isolation).
Acknowledging that Rutland is a rural area, and that car travel is inevitable for many households, the following issues have been identified which will need to be addressed:
- How does the Council focus new development in the most accessible or best served locations where journeys can be made by walking, cycling and public transport?
- Need to protect existing valued services and facilities from being lost to other uses.
- Can the Council require large scale development to provide a mix of uses on site and/or show how a range of different uses can be easily accessed from the development by walking, cycling and public transport?
- Consider existing bus routes and accessibility by walking and cycling when assessing sites for allocation and consider ways the Local Plan can promote public transport quality and use through development.
- How does the Local Plan promote the development of high-quality integrated walking and cycling networks which connect people to the places they want or need to go to?
- Can the Local Plan set maximum walking distances from new homes to a range of identified services (including bus stops) – generally 800m is a comfortable walking distance?
- What are appropriate parking requirements for both vehicles and bicycles and how can the needs for electric charging for vehicles and bicycles be met?
Question 39 Options for promoting sustainable modes of travel
Which option(s) do you consider to be most appropriate to include in the Rutland Local Plan?
Option A: Continue with existing approach to direct development to the most sustainable locations and encourage the use of a range of sustainable travel options. (This would need to be updated to reflect national policy and guidance)
Option B: Include policies which actively discourage the use of private cars. This might include requiring traffic calming measures in new developments, reducing maximum car parking standards and accepting that the capacity of junctions and routes may be exceeded. As a rural County, there are high levels of car dependency which might make this option difficult to implement.
Option C: Include policies which actively promote sustainable travel (this might include requiring new developments to connect to existing centres and services by high quality walking and cycling network and where practical public transport services or establishing maximum walking distances from new homes to a range of identified services (including stops on operational bus routes).
Option D: Consider the use of a specific policy which looks to improve walking and cycling connections. This policy could be used to promote walking and cycling routes within new development sites and ensure there are safe walking and cycling links to the nearest services and facilities. It would set out that streets must be designed to be attractive, safe and prioritise pedestrians and cyclists making this a more attractive way to travel.
Option E: Revise parking standards for new developments to reduce the availability of car parking spaces, increase the availability of racks and secure storage for bicycles and increase the availability of electric vehicle charging points. This would also include requirements for electric charging for both vehicles and bicycles.
Question 40
Do you have any alternative suggestions for promoting sustainable modes of travel?