Pioneering Local Development Order unlocks sustainable growth at Milton Park in Oxford

Building for future growth in harmony with local communities

Milton Park near Oxford is a vibrant science, business and technology park, home to 270 companies employing more than 9,000 people. Its unique single-ownership model gives companies the flexibility to scale up and move easily to different premises within the park as they grow and evolve. Owners MEPC wanted to expand the park significantly in line with the Milton Park 2040 Vision document, adding up to 390,000m² of floor space and creating up to 10,000 more jobs. The expanded park would include new amenities for employees and the local community, while promoting sustainable transport.  

MEPC wanted to obtain an approved Local Development Order (LDO) for future development at the park, which would grant permitted development rights at a masterplan scale, without the need for plot-specific planning applications. SYSTRA was appointed to provide transport planning consultancy and highways designs for the LDO application, using evidence from traditional transport assessments.

The challenge was to provide compelling evidence to the Vale of White Horse District Council (the local planning authority) and Oxfordshire County Council (the local roads authority) that the expanded park could be delivered without materially increasing traffic levels or requiring major alterations to already constrained road networks. Plans were also required for upgrades to transport infrastructure to encourage cycling, walking and sustainable travel, particularly from adjacent residential developments.

The LDO enables this already successful employment zone to grow flexibly over time into a pioneering research and innovation district, employing up to 20,000 people.

Flexible development strategy with transport monitoring and mitigation plaNS

Local Development Orders (LDOs) are an unusual type of planning permission, which require a bespoke approach to each application. The assessment methods are not tightly defined, so our specialists worked closely with both the client and Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) to achieve a balance between the need for technical evidence and the inevitable unknowns associated with this type of flexible proposal. The challenging project required expertise from our Development Planning and Traffic Modelling teams, and benefited from the detailed local knowledge we had gained from working previously with OCC. This enabled us to apply pragmatic and persuasive planning arguments to support the client’s aims.  

The solution we proposed included transport assessments underpinned by the emerging ‘decide-and-provide’ approach to transport planning, which involves first establishing a vision for the future and then designing the means to achieve that vision, while acknowledging potential uncertainties. This enabled us to present an optimistic case in favour of the Milton Park 2040 Vision, while also setting out the potential mitigation measures required in the event of a range of future scenarios. 

The evidence we presented to support the LDO demonstrated that the proposed site extension could be delivered in a way that supported the expansion of active and sustainable transport networks, without significantly increasing demand for car-based travel. Using outputs from our transport assessment and modelling exercises, we agreed a set of future transport mitigation measures and identified the trigger points for each of these interventions.  

To assure the council that flexible development at the site could be progressed without the need for prior highways upgrades, we agreed an ongoing monitoring and review programme to monitor traffic flows at key points within the site. If traffic congestion was found to exceed agreed thresholds, it would trigger the implementation of pre-agreed mitigation measures or upgrades. These mitigation measures would be in addition to plans for new active travel links between the site and new residential developments nearby.  

Philip Campbell, Commercial Director (Milton Park) MEPC

“Pioneering new ways of doing things is not without challenge, but I genuinely believe what we have collectively achieved is ground breaking.”

Innovative decide-and-provide approach to future transport planning

A Local Development Order gives the developer permitted rights to develop up to an agreed threshold of floorspace, without the need to set out development plans or phasing in advance. Consequently, many of the standard details that typically inform transport assessments were not applicable to this project. The transport assessment required an approach that balanced the applicant’s need for flexibility with the local authority’s need to understand likely impacts and possible alternative outcomes. To fulfil these requirements, we combined innovative techniques with a collaborative, partnership approach. 

Through consultation with the client and the wider Milton Park team we gained an understanding of the requirements and plans. We liaised with the OCC transportation team and Highways England to agree the scope and parameters of traffic modelling, and held regular meetings and workshops to ensure all parties were engaged throughout the process.  

Both the client and OCC were keen to embrace the ‘decide-and-provide’ method to deliver an innovative approach to trip generation and future scenario testing. Fortunately, Milton Park had a best-in-class travel plan in place, based on data from travel surveys, which provided a wealth of historic information on travel patterns. This survey data was substantiated by VivaCity sensors throughout the site, which automatically collect traffic data for all modes of transport. This gave us a substantial evidence base from which to estimate future transport demand associated with the proposed expansion. We derived three future-year demand scenarios using this data, reflecting best-case, average-case and worst-case assumptions on the use of sustainable transport.  

We used Paramics microsimulation software to model these future-year demand scenarios, with the worst-case models used to identify appropriate mitigation measures and their associated trigger points. Using the decide-and-provide approach allowed us to move away from setting trigger points based on traditional metrics, such as built floorspace, and instead use observed traffic flows and queue metrics to determine when mitigation was needed. The fact that the site operates continuous transport surveys through its VivaCity sensors enabled us to adopt this responsive approach.   A system is now in place to evaluate the current state of the road network and compare this to defined trigger points, with information relayed automatically to both the business park and the local authority. The system ensures that all parties can monitor the current traffic situation, reducing the risk of trigger points being breached unknowingly and the necessary mitigations being delayed. 

Milton Park poised to boost employment opportunities and the local economy

Following our extensive research and collaboration on the application, the Local Development Order for Milton Park was approved and adopted. This enables MEPC to embark on its planned substantial development of Milton Park in a way that responds to market demand, without the need to gain individual plot-specific planning applications.  

Our transport assessments, models and designs have given MEPC a greater understanding of the relationship between development and transport needs, while empowering it to support the uptake of active and sustainable transport as the local workforce grows. MEPC and the local roads authority have also benefited from the evolution of the VivaCity monitoring technique. The real-time data it provides helps to balance the developer’s wish to avoid unnecessary transport mitigation costs with the local authority’s need to ensure effective mitigation is provided when and where necessary.  

The success of the project gives MEPC an opportunity to sustain and grow this nationally important employment and research centre, creating local employment opportunities and complementing future housing developments in the area. The project serves as an example of how innovative thinking and emerging techniques can be used to address complex planning problems for the benefit of businesses, communities and the wider environment.