Proposals to make Travel Plan monitoring fees more consistent across our three towns are being looked at by BCP Council.
The fees, paid for by developers, currently only apply in Poole, and are required as part of any planning application for large developments.
The plans are managed and monitored by the council, and represent a long-term plan for including sustainable travel into planning, with developers required to track targets over a set number of years.
Although travel plans are in place across all three areas and have been for many years, historically, the monitoring fees associated with them currently only apply in Poole and not Bournemouth and Christchurch.
Before BCP’s formation in 2019, previous authorities took different approaches; The Borough of Poole had a Travel Plan Supplementary Planning Guidance document which required a monitoring fee, while others didn’t.
There are also inconsistencies around the monitoring periods required for travel plans across the three areas, which is currently three years in Christchurch, five years in Bournemouth and seven years in Poole.
BCP Council are now seeking the views of residents, businesses and developers on implementing one of three possible approaches to Travel Plan monitoring fees to harmonise these moving forward, as well as the timescales they remain in place for:
- No charge
- Apply Poole monitoring fees across BCP
- Apply a monitoring fee aligned with other councils
- Implementing these over a three, five, or seven-year period
An online survey is now live and will be open for six weeks as part of the consultation process.
Councillor Andy Martin, Portfolio Holder for Customer, Communications and Culture at BCP Council, said: “It’s important the approach we adopt as a council to Travel Plan Monitoring Fees is fair and consistent across our three regions.
“There are increasing numbers of large developments, particularly in Bournemouth town centre, requiring travel plans, and mitigating their impact could create budgetary pressures for the council unless we offset these through the introduction of a pan-BCP monitoring fee.
“The harmonisation of travel plans also presents an opportunity to support a reduction in private car dependency, minimise congestion, and improve network resilience by promoting alternative methods of travel to single occupancy car journeys.
“There are also additional benefits such as decarbonisation, environmental, safety, health and well-being, which supports objectives in the councils Climate and Ecological Emergency Mitigation Action Plan as well as the emerging BCP Local Plan.”
The closing date for completion is 11:59pm on Friday 19 August with a decision expcted by the end of the year.