New support for travel planning in North Somerset -
making the most of iTRACE
Together with six other local authorities in the South West
(including Bristol City Council and the Highways Agency) we have
acquired iTRACE.
The system is well established and used by the London Boroughs as
well as an increasing number of local authorities across the
country. iTRACE is a web-based application to manage Travel
Plans.
We have invested in this system to assist both council officers
and developers/occupiers improve the management and monitoring of
all aspects of workplace and destination type Travel Plans. It
ensures a robust, standardised approach is applied to the whole
Travel Plan process. Once planning permission has been granted (or
pre-application discussions entered into) the developer will be
able to access their development’s area of the website. All
existing employers and developments are now much encouraged to
start using iTRACE.
We feel very positive about offering iTRACE to employers in
North Somerset and hope that in due course it will help raise the
standard of travel planning across the district as well as prove to
be a really useful tool for all concerned. To encourage you to get
started we are currently offering financial help for your Travel
Plan, refer to the
NSC Travel Plan Grant Scheme (pdf, Mar 10,
84KB) leaflet.
Travel plans required as a planning condition or
obligation
For most new development we would expect and request the
developer/occupier to use the iTRACE survey facility. This provides
the most straightforward and consistent method of providing us with
this data. Indeed it makes it very much easier for a
developer/occupier to do this. The staff travel survey function in
particular will save developers/occupiers both time and money.
Once planning permission has been granted (or pre-application
discussions entered into) the developer/occupier can download the
Travel Plan Report Template (pdf, Mar
10, 484KB) that is effectively an excellent Draft Travel
Plan document. This helps ensure all aspects have been covered
and this can be tailored to your organisations needs. This will
automatically incorporate your site audit and travel survey data
once these have been carried out.
The survey function will not be compulsory but if the survey is
carried out by another means (that has previously been agreed with
us) it will be the developer/occupier's responsibility to provide
compatible survey data.
Calculation of the CO2 emissions of an organisation's travel
activity will be a forthcoming feature.
Voluntary Travel Plans
We encourage all employers to use the iTRACE system to develop
their Travel Plans. By using the template site audit and surveys a
large amount of work is made much easier. If subsequently your
organisation is required to develop a compulsory Travel Plan as a
result of a planning permission you can be sure that you are
already working to an approved format and will have considerably
reduced the work required. As above, you can generate a Travel Plan
Report Template.
Using iTRACE
Please download the
Using iTrace (pdf, Mar 10, 98KB)
document for detailed instructions.
