The Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA) has recently approved changes to the Traffic Impact Statement (TIS) process.
The TIS process is an important element of evaluating the transport implications of significant development proposals. This process was established in the mid-1990s, with the introduction of the Planning Authority and its roles and responsibilities. Given the inexistence of such traffic studies prior to this, UK procedures were simply adopted.
Over the last 20 years, MEPA said that it has built up an archive of TISs and is therefore now in a position to review the process and improve the system, based on actual experience in this field.
The Authority said that the first major change is the change in nomenclature: The former Traffic Impact Statements (TIS) will now be known as Transport Impact Assessments (TIA). The original term concentrated on ‘traffic,’ as evidenced in the title (Traffic Impact Statement); however, transport encompasses a wider area than simply traffic and given the drive towards more sustainable living experiences, it is important that this too is reflected in transportation issues.
“The change to ‘Transport Impact Assessment’ places emphasis on transport i.e. more than just the private car or indeed solely mechanised transport; the change from ‘impact’ to ‘assessment’ shows the need to address such impacts and not simply state what they will be. Therefore, the new assessments will have a wider scope and will need to address the pertinent issues of the site and its surroundings,” the Authority said.
“Another major change is in the updating of thresholds. In the absence of local data, when the TIS process was introduced, UK thresholds were similarly adopted; thresholds identify those development proposals that are likely to generate a significant amount of new traffic and would therefore require a study of this traffic and its impacts.”
It is however evident that the UK situation is very different to the local situation, particularly in terms of scale, MEPA said. This has resulted in the thresholds not being totally consistent in terms of the volume of traffic likely to be generated by different land uses and in some cases, the thresholds require relatively small development proposals to be supported by a TIS.
“Most developments will have some traffic impact but it is important to ensure that studies are focused on major developments, where the extra traffic could have a material effect on the surrounding highway network. A traffic generation of around 100 movements in the peak period is a sound proxy for a development that could have a noticeable impact and where development could be unacceptable or mitigating measures may be required.”
“Based on this principle and the archive of TISs built up over the last 20 years, it has been possible to amend and update the thresholds, which in most cases have been raised so that significant development proposals will be subject to transport assessment.” MEPA said that these changes have been made based on the most ‘popular’ development types.
“It has also been noted over the years that the need for a TIS sometimes stifles development proposals. Until now, the preparation of a TIS, was considered an additional loop to jump through. However, these new changes will simplify and reduce the bureaucratic burden while ensuring that if a TIS is needed, no one will avoid to go through the process.”
With the updated thresholds, that now reflect the local situation, architects and developers will be able to determine whether their proposals will require the preparation of a TIA and will therefore build this into their time estimates.
The Authority said that another significant change is that with the introduction of ‘Simplified Transport Statements’ (STS), rather than carry out a full TIS, a specific study would be requested to address the issue of concern. “The danger with raising thresholds is that development proposals that may have a specific transport issue may not be appropriately assessed.”
“Experience has shown that there are some cases where a specific element of the development proposal, such as the site vehicular access, could have a particular impact, as opposed to the development as a whole. Examples of issues of concern include: location and design of the site access, road safety audits, swept path analysis and so on.”
The introduction of STSs will speed up the planning process without neglecting the full and proper assessment that is always required, MEPA concluded.