The work is an essential part of the evidence base for the Local Plan Review, to ensure that policies within the Local Plan are robust and deliverable and are capable of withstanding scrutiny at Examination in Public (EIP).
The appointment of Essex County Council - Essex Highways who have existing knowledge of the District through previous transport modelling work and access to relevant baseline evidence and policy data represents value for money by reducing project lead-in times and avoiding an unnecessary duplication of work that would result from commissioning an entirely new body of work.
The decision to commission evidence for the Local Plan Review was made and published on 12/01/2024, and the decision to update the base model to facilitate the transport modelling work was published on 07/08/2024.
The decision to increase the budgetary spend for the Local Plan due to the condensed timeline was agreed at Cabinet on the 24th of July 2026.