Bath & North East Somerset Local Plan
Deposit Draft January 2002

D1. A Balanced and Integrated Transport System

D1.1 A prominent theme of this Local Plan is the need for "balance". The Regional Planning Guidance for the South West states that "the need for the safe and efficient movement of people and goods" should be balanced with "the need to protect and improve the environment" (RPG10 1994). The same Guidance calls for an "integrated and balanced transport system". Integration in this context is defined in the 1998 White Paper : "A New Deal for Transport - Better for Everyone" as

• integration within and between different types of transport so that people can move easily between them

• integration with the environment so that our transport choices support a better environment

• integration with land-use planning so that transport and planning work together to support more sustainable travel choices and reduce the need to travel

• integration with policies for education, health and wealth creation so that transport policies help to create a more fair and inclusive society.

D1.2 The Council's 20 year vision transportation study (see para A3.14) aims to identify new elements of the transport system that will be required to achieve a fully integrated transportation network within the next twenty years. Many of these elements will be found in this chapter but the study's findings can be incorporated before the Plan is adopted.

D1.3 The Joint Replacement Structure Plan (JRSP) states that there are three key requirements for the successful achievement of an integrated and balanced transport system. The first is the implementation of the Plan's locational strategy for new development a main aim of which is reduction in travel demand. The second is a concerted effort by all local authorities to encourage alternative modes of transport to the car. The third is the adoption of an area and corridor approach to the integration of development and transport proposals so that resources are concentrated where they will have maximum impact on travel patterns. The areas and corridors which are relevant to this Plan are:

Bath
Bath - Keynsham - Bristol
Bath - Chippenham
Bath - Trowbridge
Norton-Radstock
Norton-Radstock - Bath
Bristol - Norton-Radstock - Yeovil

D1.4 More specifically the JRSP calls for

• improvements in alternative modes to be harnessed to measures to reduce car traffic - the "carrot and stick" approach;

• securing the provision of rail/bus infrastructure and passenger services, as required to implement the locational and transport strategy of the Plan and to meet identified social needs which do not satisfy the commercial criteria of the transport operators;

• a comprehensive and integrated pattern of public transport services, incorporating better modal interchange;

• park and ride' schemes to the town and City centres where reductions in car use would be realised and the viability of existing rail and bus services safeguarded;

• a strategic approach to parking provision that encourages public transport use, avoids competitive provision of parking by neighbouring authorities and reduces congestion in urban areas;

• traffic management measures that restrict undesirable car use, give priority to non-car modes of travel and protect communities from the adverse effects of private motorised traffic;

• improved provision for cyclists and pedestrians that offers safer conditions, including segregated routes and paths linking residential areas to shopping, leisure and employment centres;

• support for fiscal measures to manage traffic.

All these measures are covered by the policies which follow.

D1.5 The new Local Transport Plans play a major rôle in the integration of transport and land use planning. The proposals they contain have to be supported by policies in the Local Plan and it is intended that the two documents should be complementary. Transport Plans have a shorter time frame (5 years) and are reviewed annually. It is therefore appropriate that they should be consulted to find out about smaller road improvement or traffic management schemes which may previously have been found in the Local Plan. The Bath & North East Somerset Local Transport Plan (July 2000) sets out the Council's 20 year vision for transport, defines objectives and puts forward a strategy. It aims to implement the strategy with a programme of schemes and measures for the 5 years 2001/06. Progress will depend on the allocation by the DTLR of funding. An Annual Progress Report is submitted to the DTLR and a review of the Local Transport Plan is likely to begin in 2002/03. The Plan adopts the following objectives to reflect the underlying elements of Government policy set out in the 1998 White Paper.

D1.6 These objectives are in turn reflected by those of this Local Plan set out in para 3.12 above and by the resultant Policy T1 below.

Top of page

Top of page

Top of page