Transport and Planning integration is the key to a sustainable, healthy future.
In the big battle against climate change, the one missing yet key weapon in the armoury, accepted by all policy makers for decades but infuriatingly absent in practice, is the full integration of ’transport’ and ‘planning’.
We must abandon ‘silo thinking’ around ‘transport’ and ‘planning’. They should be integrated to avoid the procession of car based developments being delivered across the UK. Until that happens, we won’t increase the take-up of shared transport (bus/train/tram) and increase levels of walking and cycling necessary to meet targets. At the same time it will improve the nation’s physical and mental health.
Fewer cars will free up space for nature, housing, business and children’s play and reduce congestion. Policy documents have recognised this over 50 years: delivery on the ground is sadly the exception. The new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) must deliver such integration if it is to be fit for purpose. Failure to do so would be unfair both to current and future generations.
Based on a letter published Jan 2025 in iNews
Derrick Coffee