Developments of all sizes, from single-plot dwelling houses, to the largest retail complexes, are dependent on securing an appropriate access to a suitable standard. Even if the site is adjacent to a main road, the appropriate standards of junction design, junction visibility, spacing from other junctions or from existing features such as bends or hill crests, will all come under consideration.

If the site has little or no frontage on to the existing public road network, then it may also be necessary to consider how an existing access can be widened or improved to cater for likely development traffic flows.

Finally, the development may require that certain improvements be carried out to roads or junctions outside the application site, perhaps even some distance away.

In all of those cases, it is important to make sure that any proposed improvements can be designed to meet the requisite standards, and, crucially, that they avoid land under the ownership of third parties, which can lead to a “ransom” situation.

This aspect of development planning is often overlooked in the early stages of a Transportation Assessment, but is critical to the deliverability of the overall project.

I have seen many reports proposing road improvements on land which is outside the road boundary, and not within the control of the applicants. Some roads authorities are also unaware of the importance of this aspect to the viability of a development.

This is an area where a considerable amount of experience of all of the pertinent design, legal and planning aspects must come together, if advice is to be reliable.