Planning for walking and cycling has shifted significantly in recent years. For developers, that shift is most visible at the point of application.

Since June 2023, Active Travel England (ATE) has been a statutory consultee on major planning applications in England. Its involvement applies to developments of 150 units or more, 7,500 square metres of floorspace, or 5 hectares or more. That covers the majority of larger residential and commercial schemes.

What statutory consultee status means in practice

Before ATE’s statutory role, walking and cycling provision was often treated as a secondary consideration, addressed late in the design process and rarely the subject of coordinated scrutiny at application stage.

That has changed. ATE now has a formal role in reviewing whether developments adequately support active travel, and its objections carry real weight. A refusal where inadequate active travel provision was a material factor is no longer unusual.

For developers, this means the quality of cycling and walking infrastructure is no longer just a planning policy compliance exercise. It is a potential determining factor.

What ATE looks for

ATE’s focus in the planning context covers several areas.

The connectivity of the site to the surrounding walking and cycling network matters. If key routes are severed or poorly designed, ATE is likely to raise concerns.

Cycle parking provision, including quality, security, and the ability to accommodate different types of bikes, is scrutinised in detail. The days of providing the minimum number of cycle spaces and considering the matter closed are gone.

Crossing points, dropped kerbs, and the safety of pedestrian routes within and around the site all fall within ATE’s remit. So does the design of streets within the development, particularly how they prioritise walking and cycling over through traffic.

The impact on transport assessments and travel plans

A transport assessment that does not adequately address walking and cycling conditions is likely to draw ATE comments, and those comments can delay or complicate an application. Travel plans need to reflect active travel requirements in a way that is substantive, not formulaic. Targets and measures need to be grounded in the actual conditions of the site.

For some sites, the gap between existing active travel conditions and what ATE expects will require infrastructure investment that was not originally in the programme. Getting that assessment right early avoids costly redesign later.

Working with ATE requirements from the start

The most effective approach is to treat active travel as a design constraint from the earliest stage, not a condition to satisfy afterwards. That means assessing the surrounding walking and cycling network before the scheme is designed, identifying gaps, and building connectivity into the layout.

This approach is explored further in TPA’s piece on how transport consultants support development projects, which looks at how early-stage transport input shapes planning outcomes across a range of scheme types.

For schemes where ATE is likely to be a consultee, or where local walking and cycling conditions will be a planning issue, early transport advice can make a significant difference to the process.

You can get in touch with TPA’s team via the London office, the Bristol office, the Cambridge office, or the Norwich office to discuss your scheme.