What is a Travel Plan?
A Travel Plan is a strategy with a set of initiatives designed to promote sustainable travel within a residential area, business or other development site. The main aim of a Travel Plan is to promote sustainable modes of travel, including walking and cycling and public transport, to minimise the number of car trips to and from a site. A Travel Plan has been prepared for Tootle Green as a condition to the original planning consent.
What are the Objectives of Tootle Green Travel Plan?
• To increase the level of walking to and from the site;
• To increase the level of cycling to and from the site;
• To increase the level of public transport use to and from the site;
• To reduce reliance on single occupancy car travel; and
• To raise awareness of the Travel Plan and the travel options available.
Travel Plans Benefit Everyone!
Residents and visitors of Tootle Green can derive health, environmental, financial and social benefits with a successful Travel Plan.
There are well-documented health benefits of active travel (walking, cycling and scooting) through regular moderate physical activity and exercise. There are also environmental benefits of low and zero-carbon modes of transport, through reduced carbon emissions, local air pollution and noise.
Residents and visitors can also benefit financially by selecting travel options that are more cost-effective than car travel and through the incentives offered by the Travel Plan. The use of sustainable modes could even remove the need for a person’s car (or second car), thereby removing the capital and ongoing costs of car ownership. The use of sustainable transport, including car sharing, can also bring social benefits through the interaction with other people.
Additional benefits of travelling sustainably can be found on the Lancashire County Council Active Travel website, provided in the ‘Extra Reading and Handy Links’ section to the rear of this Welcome Pack.
Overall, a successful Travel Plan can contribute to an improved quality of life with a healthier and happier pollution, reduction in financial wastage, and increased accessibility for residents and visitors alike. The surrounding community would also benefit from reduced congestion, improved journey times, and the negative effects of less sustainable forms of travel such as driving on your own.