UMP responds to the consultation on the Government’s planning reforms

The Urban Mobility Partnership has responded to the UK Government’s Planning for the future consultation to make the case for the integration of transport and planning policy to achieve the Government’s environmental ambitions and create the multi-modal transport system of the future. A core feature of our response is the lack of consideration for mobility issues in the reforms. This lack of consideration for mobility and infrastructure risks slowing progress towards national and local environmental targets and promoting unsustainable development that will then inevitably face opposition from local communities. Our response calls for specific requirements on developers to reduce consumer reliance on the most polluting forms of transport and encourage modal shift. Sustainability must also be embedded at a national policy level. Our response proposes that the local plan system be made up of a core local plan alongside specific supplementary documents covering rapidly evolving policy areas that can be revised as needed. The specific supplementary documents would provide flexibility in response to national and local policy developments, technological innovation and changes in the lives of consumers. Finally, we argue for the need for sustainable transport to be prioritised with regards to how developer contributions are spent. This must be consistent and in line with the requirements within design codes and local plans that ensure sufficient deployment of mobility solutions. We have called on the Government to bring forward further detail on these reforms and their implementation. We will continue to work with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to make the case for the importance of sustainable transport and the consideration of the key challenges facing this sector in reforms to the planning system.