New System for Travel Plans for New Development

A standard set of Travel Plan Fees now applies apply to travel plans received by Somerset County Council’s Travel Plan Coordinator, from 1st June 2009, in relation to planning applications only*.

The aim of this service is to provide a full travel plan service to developers who are required to produce a travel plan as part of their planning application. Such charges are consistent with the practice of other local authorities and the advice contained within the DfT Good Practice Guidelines: Delivering Travel Plans through the Planning Process (2009).

The Travel Plan Fee is linked to the size of development, and applied at two levels with the threshold between the upper and lower fee determined by the Department for Transport’s (DfT) travel plan thresholds published in the Guidance on Transport Assessment (2007).

All applicants required to include a travel plan as part, or as a consequence, of their planning application will be required to pay the Travel Plan Fee to Somerset County Council (including outline, hybrid, full and reserved matters applications).

The payment must be submitted at, or before, the time of the planning application (or a travel plan through condition) being submitted. SCC may have to recommend refusal of the planning application in the event of a Travel Plan Fee not being paid, where the ongoing impact of the travel plan has been unable to be assessed. SCC will be unable to approve or otherwise make formal recommendations on the content of travel plans until the Travel Plan Fee has been received.

For further information and a schedule of Fees, please see New developments - getting-started.

* Businesses can still get free advice from Moving Forward about travel planning when developing smarter travel management frameworks on a voluntary basis. Please see our Business advice