The existing Hillingdon Local Plan sets out the council’s policy approach to:
- promoting walking and cycling
- reducing car dependency
- improving the north-south connections in the borough
- managing car parking in development
- managing the impact of Heathrow Airport on road networks and air quality.
Existing approach
Key transport policies include:
- Policy DMT 1 requires most development to be accessible by public transport
- Policy DMT 2 controls impacts on the highway including amenity and congestion and requires provision of access for cyclists and pedestrians
- Policy DMT 4 requires developers mitigate impacts of their scheme by improving local public transport facilities
- Policy DMT 5 ensure that development provides safe, direct and accessible links for pedestrians are provided in development
- Policy DMT 6 sets parking standards for developments the criteria for considering any variation from the standard. A minimum of 5% of car parking should provide electric vehicle charging points
- Policy DMT7 that developments which generate freight movements are well connected to the strategic road network
- Policy DMAV 1 relates to airports and protects against development that is hazardous to aircraft and stops development where potentially it poses a risk to safety or is significantly impacted by noise.
Key challenges
Key challenges for the transport policies are thought to include:
- the need to consider the Mayor of London’s strategic target of 75% of trips in Outer London to be undertaken by walking, cycling and public transport by 2041
- how to balance this target with the low levels of public transport accessibility for large areas in Hillingdon, with 86% of the population in an area of PTAL 2 or lower, significantly lower than the average for London (49%)
- some parts of the borough are remote and do not benefit from existing or planned public transport, potentially making the inappropriate from some uses
- levels of walking and cycling are low in Hillingdon, with only 2.4% of journeys to work by walking and 0.5% by bicycle
- while connections to Central London are good, public transport connections within the borough and north and south are limited
- traffic congestion and its impacts on pollution, amenity and journey times are problematic in many areas
- in addition to the movement of people, the borough needs to accommodate freight movement by both rail and road
- there are areas of poor air quality, focused on the road network and Heathrow Airport
- there are significant challenges with children’s health, with 1 in 3 children living with overweight or obesity by year 6 of school. Active travel options (walking and cycling) can help reduce levels of overweight and obesity.
What the new Local Plan could achieve
A key commitment from the council strategy is forresidents to will live in pleasant neighbourhoods with access to sustainable transport:
- development should be integrated with transport access and capacity, and safeguard land for transport infrastructure
- the Local Plan needs to make better use of land, reduce car dependency, improve urban greening and biodiversity
- in line with the London Plan, the Local Plan should seek to rebalance the transport system towards walking, cycling and public transport. The Mayor of London has set out an ambitious target for Hillingdon for 75% of all trips to be by public transport, cycling or walking by 2041
- following the London Plan ‘Healthy Streets’ approach, the Local Plan should deliver patterns of development which allow short journeys by walking and cycling and create streets which are safe and pleasant to use
- the Local Plan will need to respond to new London Plan priorities to seek lower provision of car parking in new development where alternatives allow
- new development should provide charging facilities for electric vehicles where car parking is provided. The current target of 5% of parking spaces is below the 20% outlined in the London Plan
- managing overspill traffic from motorway impacting on local neighbourhoods.