LandTech and RTPI research has informed the government's new transport strategy - here's what it means for developers.
The Department for Transport (DfT) has just published its national integrated transport strategy, Better Connected, it paints a picture of where transport planning is heading. A roadmap, if you like.
The strategy sets out a framework for joining up buses, trains, trams and active travel routes across England - and at its heart is a clear ambition to break the country's dependence on the car. What makes this feel different is that the government is directly referencing the evidence base to back it up - including work that LandTech produced with the RTPI.
Our joint Location of Development research, published November 2024, analysed a decade of planning permissions across England and found that new housing developments remain largely car-dependent, with minimal improvement in access to essential services by walking, cycling, or public transport. It is 1.5 times faster to reach key destinations from new residential developments by car than by public transport, and twice as fast to reach hospitals. While 96% of new homes can reach a town centre within a 20-minute drive, only 66% can do so by public transport, and just 47% within a 20-minute walk.
The fact that this research has now been picked up at the level of national transport strategy is significant. It means the policy direction is moving - and that developers who get ahead of it now will be better placed.
So What Does 'Better Connected' Actually Mean?
The strategy commits to more than 40 funded actions, but the most relevant for developers are around site selection and sustainable connectivity. The strategy signals that DfT will be working with MHCLG to embed a vision-led approach to transport planning at a local level, and calls for the Connectivity Tool to be given greater prominence in the NPPF to ensure it is embedded as a key element of site selection.
In plain terms: where you build is going to matter more than ever. Developments that score poorly on connectivity - long walking times to amenities, poor public transport access, no realistic active travel routes - are going to face more scrutiny.
The DfT's Connectivity Tool scores places in England and Wales on how well connected they are to health services, education, shopping, leisure, and workplaces. Expect this to become a more prominent part of local plan-making and planning decisions going forward.
What This Means in Practice
For developers, the message is fairly straightforward: transport connectivity is no longer just a box to tick in a transport assessment. It's becoming a primary filter for whether a site is considered acceptable in the first place.
The RTPI report findings indicate that more needs to be done to ensure that new developments are located in sustainable locations that do not further entrench car dependency and its associated problems of social isolation, sedentary lifestyles, and poor air quality. The government has now heard that message - and is acting on it.
For those using LandInsight, the data you're already using to assess sites reflects exactly this kind of connectivity evidence. As policy tightens around sustainable location, having that intelligence built into your land search from the outset becomes an increasingly clear competitive advantage.
The research may have been published last autumn, but it's clearly still making its way through the system. Sometimes it takes a while for the right people to be listening - and it turns out, in this case, they were.
See connectivity data for any site in England.
LandInsight gives you access to the same kind of location intelligence that underpins the RTPI research - built directly into your land search.
If you want to assess how a site stacks up on sustainable connectivity before you commit, try LandInsight free today →
