Overview
Herefordshire Council commissioned City Science to deliver a ‘Vision & Validate’ led Transport Scoping Study, preparing transport evidence for the Herefordshire Local Plan update.
Scope
Herefordshire’s adopted Core Strategy was supported by a transport evidence base, however a significant change in policy direction necessitated a refresh of this evidence. In order to deliver this, the study had two parts:
Stage 1: A high-level scoping assessment of the likely transport scenarios outlined in the Spatial Options Consultation.
Stage 2: A more detailed transport assessment to be undertaken once full site capacities were known, consistent with national planning guidance.
City Science Approach
Baseline
We delivered a baseline report to provide an up-to-date view of the current transport situation in Herefordshire. It included:
- An overview of relevant policy and best practice in delivering a ‘Vision & Validate’ approach
- Identification of the existing and future committed multi-modal transport network across Herefordshire
- A summary of current travel behaviour using Census data, focusing on Hereford and the surrounding market towns
- A summary of relevant engagement outcomes, including for the Local Plan consultation
- A summary of sensitive junctions and road links which would inform the Transport Scoping Report
Transport Scoping Report
Evidence-led, future transport visions were developed for seven spatial typologies through drawing on historical TRICS data. An impact assessment was conducted to quantify the high-level impact from the emerging Local Plan Spatial Options and to inform the identification of infrastructure improvement packages, prioritising active travel and public transport.
Figure 8: Forecast travel demands from Local Plan
Figure 9: Forecast trip distributions from new development
Figure 10: Herefordshire Spatial Typologies Assumed Based on Place-Shaping Consultation
Outcome
The final evidence base has been used to support the Local Plan update.
City Science was also commissioned to review the existing Hereford Transport Model (HTM) as a part of the study, to investigate the suitability of using HTM for testing the Local Plan Options. Several HTM update options were explored with varying levels of scope and cost implications for Herefordshire Council. City Science is now commissioned to support the development of the Herefordshire Strategic Transport Model.