Successful participation methods for local transport planning

The Local Authorities Local Transport Plan Benchmarking Group was established in 2002 to undertake a continuous process of comparison, review and search for best and better practice within its membership councils. This paper attempts to identify successful participation strategies and techniques used within the benchmarking group that could be deployed by other local authorities in support of the development of their second local transport plan (LTP) for 2006–2011. It is acknowledged that for a transport plan to be successful it requires high-quality public participation and information-gathering techniques to be used to ensure that, as far as practical, the Plan meets local problems and needs.