MATTER OF CHOICE IN LEICESTERSHIRE PUBLIC TRANSPORT

Leicestershire is the first English county to adopt a replacement structure plan under the Department of the Environment's new development plan system. This article describes how the plan addresses sustainability issues. Although the plan was formulated before the DoE issued PPG13, its draft paper on transport, its strategy meets many of PPG13's requirements. It is designed to encourage the greater short- to-medium-term use of public transport, and aims to ensure that public transport services can be effective as soon as private transport has become less acceptable. To encourage a shift from car use as quickly as possible, it is collaborating with British rail and bus companies to improve local rail and bus services. It intends to encourage as many people as possible to choose whether to travel by car or public transport. Most new development is to be concentrated in and next to the county's urban areas, and at nodes along public transport corridors (five rail-based and one bus-based) between them.