New Oxford Policy places 'Decide and Provide' at the forefront

Oxfordshire County Council has recently issued its Local Transport and Connectivity Plan (LTCP) 2022 – 2050, their fifth local transport plan, which outlines Oxford County Council’s vision “to deliver a net-zero Oxfordshire transport and travel system that enables the county to thrive while protecting the environment and making Oxfordshire a better place to live for all residents”.

This is a wide-ranging policy document dealing with everything from a transport user hierarchy (with walking and cycling at the top of the tree) to healthy place-making, digital connectivity and parking and demand management.?The key targets include:

·????????????Replacing or removing 25% of all car trips in the County

·????????????Increasing the number of cycle trips from 600,000 to 1 million per week

·????????????Reducing road fatalities or life-changing injuries by 50%

The effect of some of these policies is already being seen in recent proposals for Oxford City, where a Workplace Parking Levy (WPL), traffic filters, and improved public transport are proposed. Nottingham City Council is the pioneer of the WPL, introducing the UK’s first scheme in 2011. This year, Leicester City Council were investigating introducing a WPL but announced this month that it would not be going ahead due to political and economic circumstances, including the cost-of-living crisis.

Oxfordshire’s LTCP shows how net-zero is now being firmly embedded in local transport policy in Oxfordshire and elsewhere and will start to be implemented through new Local Plan preparation and development decisions.

Of particular interest to those planning new development in Oxfordshire is the new policy guidance which includes a variety of proposals for connectivity of new development to existing settlements, both within the development and in terms of access to local facilities. Some of the more interesting aspects are summarised below.

Firstly, the adoption of a ‘decide and provide’ approach to transport planning. Oxfordshire County Council have approved implementing ‘Decide & Provide: Requirements for Transport Assessments’; a formal supplementary document to their LTCP. This approach decides on a preferred vision and then provides the means to work towards that, while also accommodating the uncertainty of the future. With ‘decide and provide’, there is less reliance on past traffic trends and historic behaviour and more on local connectivity by sustainable modes. Rather than identifying junctions that are forecast to be over capacity and then providing schemes to increase capacity for private vehicles, developers will instead be expected to first consider the extent to which they could address vehicular capacity issues by making provision for sustainable and active modes. IE., Rather than increase capacity for cars, leave capacity as per the existing and seek to divert trips to other modes. All access junctions need to prioritise walking, cycling and public transport from the outset.

Secondly, the policy promotes a new approach to parking, seeking to reduce provision. We also expect district authorities to set parking standards for residential and non-residential developments that support the LTCP objectives. This includes encouraging car-free developments. For instance, in Oxford, all new residential developments in a controlled parking zone will only provide disabled parking provision.

Within the key urban areas, such an ultra-low parking policy can work well as the opportunities for other travel are available. Outside of the core urban areas, ultra-low parking policy is more challenging to implement and will need to be supported by other measures, for example:

·????????????Improving walking and cycling connectivity between villages so that a range of services can be shared and are accessible locally without dependency on car use

·????????????Shared mobility, such as car clubs and car sharing schemes

·????????????Providing access to a frequent public transport route or mobility hub which will connect residents to those services

Overall, Oxfordshire Council Council’s LTCP is pushing to plan for a net-zero future by 2040 and Oxfordshire is thought to be the first English County to formally put the ‘decide and provide’ approach into their planning policy. The expectations are that other local authorities will follow suit. Of Oxfordshire’s neighbours, Gloucester County Council’s Local Transport Plan (LTP) was updated in 2020 so is unlikely to be revised in the near future; however, Buckinghamshire County Council’s LTP4 is over 5 years’ old and Wiltshire and West Berkshire’s LTPs are over 10 years’ old and due a refresh to be relevant to today’s challenges and opportunities. It remains to be seen if these authorities will follow Oxford’s lead but with the increasing weight of net-zero, it seems likely that more local policies will move towards similar policy strategies.

?By Bridget Grant