5.1 In fulfilling the plan’s strategy, in particular Objectives 1, 2, 4 and 6, the plan aims to integrate the linkages between transport and land use through policies that make a positive contribution to the environment, the economy and will help increase social inclusion. The development plan will complement both Aberdeen City’s and Aberdeenshire’s Local Transport Strategies. These will focus on an integrated vision for transport and will provide the detailed comprehensive measures, action and targets required to bring about a modern transport system for the area. A summary of the main transport related issues that need to be addressed through the development plan and Local Transport Strategies includes: congestion (with its effects on the economy); air and noise pollution; the use of non-renewable energy; safety; community severance caused by traffic; and the impact that transport has on the global environment, including climate change.

5.2 The structure plan strategy underlines how the transport impacts of new development and the demands on existing transport infrastructure will be managed. Policies and proposals should be formulated in a way that contributes towards the principal aim of reducing the need to travel, particularly by car, whilst increasing the choice of means of travel available. When people do travel, measures will encourage them to do so in a more sustainable way, on foot, by bicycle or by public transport instead.

5.3 Crucially, measures which reduce the need to travel must not result in reduced accessibility (which is usually measured in terms of the ease, convenience and cost of making the journey). There are already people living in parts of the North East without access to a car or regular public transport who find it difficult to get employment or reach essential services. These problems should not be reproduced in future development and should be reduced for development that already exists. To maintain high and stable levels of economic growth and employment whilst reducing the length and number of trips, especially by car, a combination of land use and transport measures will be required. The main settlements will be the focus of major development and will require appropriate linkages between them. New development should be well related to public transport corridors, and their design should give preference to access to public transport, walking and cycling. Good access to town centres must be sustained to ensure their competitiveness is maintained. Town centre proposals will be sensitively located to ensure that a range of shopping and other social facilities can be more easily reached for those who do not have access to a car. Efficient deliveries and servicing in town centre and other locations must also be taken into account.

5.4 Transport measures to complement the land use strategy and ensure compliance with the Road Traffic Reduction Act will be outlined in local plans and Local Transport Strategies, and amongst other things should include charging regimes, maximum car parking standards and cycle parking standards, traffic management and traffic calming.

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5.5 Future development will be focused on the main settlements that are well served by public transport, although proposals that support the local economy of all communities will be identified in local plans. Efficient communications links between settlements (roads and telecommunications as well as public transport) are vital to maintain accessibility within the North East and to other places. Past economic benefits have not spread in equal measure to all parts of the area, partly because of inadequacies in the transport network. Remoteness also means that some communities have missed out in the provision of new services and facilities.

5.6 The plan provides the framework for improvements to the main road network such as the A90, A96 and A947. However the outcome of such improvements must not run counter to the need to reduce travel especially by car. Justification for improvements must be based on issues such as road safety, improving access for buses and freight vehicles and making an overall positive contribution to the aim of a modern transport system. A proposed road around the western and northern side of Aberdeen (which has become known as the western peripheral route) is seen as an important component of the modern transport system. It will make northern areas more accessible from the south and enable appropriate transport measures to be introduced within Aberdeen. These include more bus priorities, traffic calming and pedestrian priority measures especially in the city centre. The western peripheral route will also link together park and ride sites to increase the choice of services available. The introduction of a Local Rail Service also has the potential to improve the links between some main settlements, especially to Aberdeen. Bus services and ‘inter-urban’ park and ride provide important rural-urban routes linking many settlements.

5.7 Efficient transport links with the rest of the UK, Europe and the world are vital to sustain a competitive economy. Aberdeen airport and the harbours in the North East are important components in ensuring these links. They are also vital channels for people and equipment needed to serve offshore North Sea oil and gas facilities. Land-side passenger and freight access to these important transport gateways or ‘nodes’ must be maintained and enhanced.

5.8 The plan seeks to increase the proportion of long distance movement of freight and people by more sustainable forms of transport such as sea and rail, and pipeline for products such as oil and gas. However, it recognises that many areas are remote from rail and sea facilities and that most freight journeys are local to the North East and so will continue to be road based. Hauliers provide a vital function in terms of the economy of the North East. Unfortunately many must face the burden of congestion in or around Aberdeen and the western peripheral route would help them bring greater economic benefits to the wider economy. Many villages also lie on roads which are environmentally inappropriate, feel unsafe and require constant maintenance as a result of heavy use by lorries.

5.9 Local authorities should continue to press the Scottish Executive, Strategic Rail Authority and other appropriate bodies for improvements in and outwith the plan area so that longer distance freight and passenger traffic may become easier, less costly and more convenient to move by sea and rail whenever possible. Local authorities will also encourage improvements in air services.

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5.10 Mixed use and high density developments can help to bring the origins and destinations of trips closer together making journeys shorter and more convenient on foot or by bicycle. Local plans will provide policies to ensure that the design of developments incorporates car parking requirements, as well as landscaping and other issues. New homes must be in scale with the jobs and services and the function of the local communities in which they are located. Housing policy provides local plans with the discretion to allocate small housing developments to rural service centres. To prevent an increase in commuting, especially by car, these small-scale developments should only be identified if they fulfil specific local needs and support economic development and local services. NPPG 15 supports this stance stating that there should be a general presumption against developments in "rural commuter areas". These tend to be less self-sufficient and more reliant on car based trips to access even basic services. Inward investment in economic development will have a role to play in helping existing settlements with high levels of out-commuting by encouraging appropriately sized business and industry and technological innovations, such as home based teleworking.

5.11 Physical and fiscal measures will be required to make walking, cycling or using public transport more attractive than the journey by car. Whenever steps are taken to reduce travel by car, an attractive alternative should be available in order not to undermine accessibility or a choice of travel mode. One potential means to reduce travel, especially in car dependent areas where the alternatives are few and far between, will be to tackle single car occupancy. Internet services and other electronic communications also have the potential to reduce travel in rural areas as much as in urban areas.

5.12 A number of local studies including one for NESEDP have shown that an integrated package of transport measures will do much to improve many of the problems associated with transport. A modern transport system can be effective in mitigating the underlying problems associated with excessive car use. This would consist of, among other things: new local rail services, improved bus facilities, improved traffic management, parking spaces for the benefit of residents, shoppers and visitors and inter-modal interchange. Such a system has wide public support. Together, the package of measures will improve choice, accessibility and road safety; reduce severance in built up areas; enhance economic development by reducing congestion; and reduce noise and air quality problems that currently affect many people especially in the city. It will also reduce energy consumption by encouraging many more people to use public transport etc. and help reduce emissions which have global effects. Whilst the development of the western peripheral route will result in landtake impacts in the corridor around Aberdeen, the significance of those effects will be influenced by the route alignment and extent of environmental mitigation.

5.13 To help the delivery of these policies and measures there should be on going consultation with local communities, other stakeholders and, for consistency, neighbouring structure plan authorities.

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Transport Infrastructure: Safeguarding land and minimising environmental impacts

5.14 The plan provides the strategic framework for local plans to allocate and protect land for the development of transport proposals. These proposals must be in accord with the aims of the modern transport system and, for instance, could include land for the western peripheral route, railfreight terminals and park and ride facilities; also cycle networks, bus priorities and routes for access by walkers to the countryside, and, if identified, proposals for new rail or light rail lines.

5.15 Policies and proposals must take account of the implications of transport infrastructure on the natural and built environment. The overall benefits of a proposal (generally economic benefits and sometimes community and some environmental benefits) must demonstrably outweigh any disbenefits including any impacts on the environment. Some of the environmental issues that may need to be addressed include measures to minimise visual, noise and air quality impacts, and the effect on ecology and landscape particularly if the proposal is in Green Belt. Wider consideration of the global impacts of the scheme may also be required.

5.16 Vehicle exhaust emissions are one of the biggest causes of poor air quality. Some emissions are also thought to contribute to global problems of climate change and global warming. The UK National Air Quality Strategy provides objectives for the reduction of pollutants and transport measures detailed in Local Transport Strategies will have a role to play in implementing local air quality strategies. The amount of non-renewable energy that is currently consumed needs to be reduced to conserve stocks for future generations. Whilst trip lengths and numbers need to be reduced generally, measures which reduce congestion will not only have positive impacts on the economy, but also reduce the disproportionate amount of fuel used by vehicles travelling in traffic jams.

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5.17 Everyone must be responsible for helping to reduce travel, especially by car. One role for local authorities and other organisations such as the health authorities is to raise awareness of the impacts and solutions to transport problems. This is a key role of Local Transport Strategies. Green commuter plans and transport assessments can lead to reduced impacts and ensure that there is an adequate choice of alternatives to the car, to destinations such as retail, office and health developments. Local plans will provide the framework for transport (and environmental impact) assessments, maximum parking standards, green commuter plans and developer contributions, to identify and then mitigate any adverse impacts that a proposed development will create. The framework will also ensure that new developments will be served by an effective choice of transport and are not reliant on journeys by car.

5.18 A corporate approach and one which involves working with local communities and other organisations is required to ensure that many transport issues are resolved effectively. For instance road safety has improved in the North East in recent years, but more remains to be done by installing traffic management measures, and also by raising public awareness of the reasons for accidents in the first place. Measures must be taken to improve the perception (or reality) that personal security is increasingly at risk whilst using public transport or making journeys on foot. It is often the most vulnerable members of society who feel strongly about this, and who are further disadvantaged by not having access to a private vehicle. It also tends to be the poorer areas that feel the effects of severance and noise caused by growing levels of traffic passing through their communities. People with mobility problems – the physically disabled and others with temporary impairments – must also be adequately catered for by the transport system.