Construction traffic impact has always been assessed, and is an integral part of an EIA Transport Chapter, but this has not been included within Transport Assessments, nor been seen as a reason for refusal of a planning application.
What does the 2026 NPPF say about construction traffic?
15 Sep 26
The Transport section of the new NPPF puts active and sustainable travel at the forefront, but one aspect of development now requires greater consideration of traffic impact – construction.
Part 4 of Policy TR6 says that “Development proposals should be refused if they would have a severe adverse impact on the transport network (in terms of capacity and congestion, including cumulative impacts), or an unacceptable impact on highway safety; taking into account any mitigation measures proposed as well as any wider network improvements, including measures to support sustainable patterns of movement. This applies both during the construction phase and following completion.”
Construction traffic impact has always been assessed, and is an integral part of an EIA Transport Chapter, but this has not been included within Transport Assessments, nor been seen as a reason for refusal of a planning application.
Detailed construction traffic data is typically provided in the final version of Construction Management Plans discharged prior to commencement. This will need to change under the new NPPF policy, with an assessment being required much earlier in the process.
Some of our clients who retain involvement until the development is fully built will be able to provide reliable data based on their known requirements, but strategic developers, many of whom will get planning permission and then sell the site on, may not have such easy access to construction traffic data.
The policy also requires a cumulative assessment. We will need to agree which cumulative construction sites need to be assessed as part of the assessment at the pre-application stage, which will not be the same as cumulative developments for the completed development.
For many developments we are not required to assess the vehicle impact, but the construction traffic could have a much higher impact; we will now need to consider this for all developments irrespective of the final impact of the development.
We have our own data from previous projects that we can draw on, but we will need to work more closely with construction project managers and contractors at an earlier stage in the process to determine the likely construction traffic requirements at a much earlier stage in the process.
If your project requires planning permission under the new NPPF, early consideration of construction traffic impacts is now more important than ever.
Contact the Iceni Transport team to discuss how we can help prepare a robust and policy-compliant Construction Management Plan.
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