The council will work with developers to reach a suitable agreement but will consider advising refusal of any planning application development proposals that do not meet the policies and objectives set out in this document, (see Highway Development Management ‘Preparing Development Proposals’).
Where passenger transport is proposed as a sustainable alternative to using cars, the service must be capable of delivering a shift away from the car. To achieve any significant shift, it is likely that the service will have to be more frequent than once an hour during the day, Monday to Saturday, with an evening and Sunday service for larger developments.
Developments will be considered on a site-by-site basis. Any estimates for likely levels of passenger transport use included in any transport assessments or draft travel plans will be evaluated against existing or proposed bus routes, vehicle capacities and timetables. To be successful in the future, a passenger transport service must be assessed as being commercially viable and capable of achieving the expected level of use.
Funding Provision
Through the planning process the council will normally recommend to planning authorities that developers fund passenger transport services through a Section 106 agreement which, among other things, specifies the level of support which must be provided to the service and over what period.
Phasing
Phasing in of services, particularly for larger developments, will be considered on a site-by-site basis. Issues that will need to be discussed and agreed include:
- the initial service provision to a development site, for example, taxibuses and demand-responsive transport (services that operate in response to specific requests from residents) to serve the first occupiers of new residential developments;
- at what stage the growing numbers of houses, employees and shoppers will trigger an increase in the capacity and frequency of services;
- the need for priming initial services by using subsidised or free bus passes, residents’ travel packs and so on; and
- if and when a new service might become self-funding.