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Practical guidance, policy updates and appeal decisions for the people bringing schemes forward. Find the issue that matters to your site.
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A departure from access guidance still needs a workable design
A Watford driveway appeal was allowed despite departures from local guidance. The parking space still had to be enlarged, and the street context was central to the decision.
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A rural access can be acceptable without meeting every guideline
A Thurston barn conversion appeal shows why the road, the use and the evidence matter. The highways case succeeded, but the appeal did not.
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An existing access does not settle the case for its replacement
An Ainley Top householder appeal shows why the road, visibility and pedestrian movements need to be tested before a new access becomes part of the layout.
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Driveway applications: prepare the right plans for the right consent
A practical sequence for new or widened driveway access, from checking the application route to preparing a coordinated crossing plan.
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Driveway planning permission: check the surface and the access
The planning position can depend on the frontage works, drainage, road classification and the rights attached to the property.
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EIA Screening: explain the transport effects early
What transport information can contribute to an EIA screening request, and why a small traffic total can leave important questions unanswered.
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ES Scoping: define the transport assessment before the chapter
A clear transport contribution to EIA scoping identifies receptors, assessment scenarios, methods and the work shared with other specialists.
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Footway crossover access: design the pavement as well as the driveway
Vehicle crossover, crossover access and dropped kerb are common terms for a vehicle route across the footway or verge. Its design must work for people using both.
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For open storage, the delivery route is part of the site
A Gosport appeal shows why a broad storage use needs a defined transport envelope, evidence of its baseline and a delivery route that works beyond the gate.
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Private access: settle the rights and the road design together
The access route, its legal status, the proposed use and the servicing arrangements all matter when a development relies on a private road.
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Private driveway design: make the available space work
Parking, vehicle movement, visibility, gradients and drainage should be tested together before a private driveway layout is fixed.
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The 2026 NPPF: bring transport into the first sketch
The August 2026 Framework puts transport policy in TR1 to TR8. What that means for a site brief, an emerging layout and the evidence behind it.
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The ES transport chapter: turn traffic forecasts into environmental evidence
How the transport chapter of an Environmental Statement should connect the scheme, its movements, environmental effects and mitigation.
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Transport scoping: agree the questions before buying the surveys
A practical transport scoping brief sets the study area, evidence, assumptions and programme before the assessment gets under way.
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Vehicle tracking should improve a layout, not design it for you
How to use swept path analysis early, choose the right vehicle and keep space for people, landscape and buildings.
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A new footway or dropped kerb outside your site: what Section 278 really involves
Fees, bonds, approvals and timescales for highway works on small schemes, explained plainly.
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Barn conversions: getting the access right under Class Q
Transport and highways impacts are one of the few matters the council can consider. Lanes, visibility and passing places decide most cases.
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Building a house in your garden: the access questions to answer first
Width, visibility, bins, fire engines and the neighbours. The transport issues that decide most backland and infill schemes.
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Cafés, takeaways and drive-thrus: what worries highways officers
Parking, delivery riders, queues and passing trade: the issues to answer for food and drink schemes.
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Does a new dropped kerb need planning permission?
Two separate consents, the roads where the rules change, and why some driveways get refused.
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EV charging hubs: how many trips are really new?
Why most visits are already on the road, and how to evidence it.
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Fewer parking spaces than the standard: when it’s acceptable
Local standards are a starting point. The location, car ownership data and on-street conditions decide whether less parking works.
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Five things highways officers look for at pre-app
Get these right early and the formal consultation tends to go far more smoothly.
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Five transport checks to make before you fix a layout
Visibility, parking, bin lorries, fire access and gradients: the things that cause late redesigns.
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Getting credit for the existing use: the fallback argument
Why the traffic a site already generates, or lawfully could, should be the starting point for judging a new scheme.
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Highways objection on your application? What to do next
Most objections can be answered. How to read the response and what a good reply looks like.
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HMOs and flat conversions: parking stress surveys explained
When councils ask for one, how the survey works, and what the 85% figure really means.
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Holiday lets and glamping: will the lane be a problem?
Rural access, trip numbers and changeover days. How to answer the questions councils ask about tourism schemes on country lanes.
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Is pre-app worth paying for on a small scheme?
An honest answer on when highways pre-application advice is worth the fee, and when it isn’t.
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Refused on highways grounds? What inspectors look for on small schemes
How highways reasons for refusal are tested at appeal, and the evidence that wins and loses.
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Should you get transport advice before you buy a site?
A short appraisal of access and transport risks costs a fraction of finding the problem after exchange.
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Small business units: servicing, deliveries and vehicle size
Designing yards and accesses for the vehicles that will actually use them, not the biggest lorry in the book.
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The 30, 25 and 45 metre rules: bins and fire engines on small layouts
The Building Regulations distances that catch architects out late, and how to design them in from the first sketch.
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Transport for a 9-home scheme: what the council actually needs
Why most small housing schemes need a short note, not a thick report, and what that note must cover.
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Transport Statement or Transport Assessment? How to tell
The thresholds, the grey areas, and how to agree the right one before you spend.
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Visibility over land you don’t own
Verges, hedges, the highway boundary and ransom strips: why visibility splays can stall a small site, and what to do about it.
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Visibility splays explained in plain English
What the numbers mean, where they come from, and when they can flex.
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What "severe" really means in the NPPF
The one word that decides whether a council can refuse on traffic grounds, and why most objections never get near it.
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Articles are general information, not advice on a specific site. For advice on your scheme, send us the site.
Statement or Assessment? Know before you spend.
The thresholds councils use, what pushes a scheme up a level, and how to avoid over-scoping.