Local Transport Plan (LTP) - Integrated Sustainability Appraisal

Overview

North Northamptonshire Council is producing its first Local Transport Plan (LTP) for the North Northamptonshire area. This Plan will identify our transport policies, objectives and link in with the North Northamptonshire Big 50 Future Vision, Corporate Plan and the wider Council policies for the area.

Production of an LTP is a statutory requirement of the Transport Act 2000 and Local Transport Act 2008 which require us to set out our plans and policies for transport as well as how we intend to implement them. The current Plan for North Northamptonshire is the Northamptonshire Transportation Plan produced by Northamptonshire County Council in 2012. As a new unitary council, we want to develop a new LTP for North Northamptonshire that reflects local needs.

In February and March 2025 we engaged with stakeholders and residents on the draft Local Transport Plan Baseline Report. This was the first stage in developing the LTP. There are 6 stages in the preparation of the LTP:

• Stage 1: Establishing the context (Baseline Report March 2025)
• Stage 2: Building consensus
• Stage 3: Vision/ Strategy development
• Stage 4: Policy Development
• Stage 5: Interventions and measures
• Stage 6: Agreement and adoption of LTP

To inform the preparation of the emerging North Northamptonshire Local Transport Plan an Integrated Sustainability Appraisal (ISA) is being carried out.

Integrated Sustainability Appraisal

An Integrated Sustainability Appraisal (ISA) incorporates all the assessments the regulations and guidance require to be undertaken when producing a strategic plan such as the LTP. These assessments are:

• Strategic Environment Assessment (SEA)
• Sustainability Assessment (SA)
• Equalities Assessment (EqA)
• Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA)

The role of the ISA

The ISA’s role is to inform the developing LTP and ensure that sustainability issues are addressed in a way which is appropriate to the purpose of the plan and in a way which takes account of local conditions. For example, some otherwise significant sustainability issues may not be of particular relevance in the context of a strategic transport plan. Others may not apply to North Northamptonshire; coastal erosion, for example, will be a highly significant issue in some counties but of no relevance to North Northamptonshire.

The first stage in preparing an ISA is to produce a Scoping Report.

Scoping Report

Before we can produce a working ISA, we must set the scope of the ISA; what sustainability issues are relevant, which are highest priority etc. Part of this process is mandatory consultation of prescribed bodies. In addition, we are also seeking the views of members of the public and other stakeholders on the scope of the ISA.

This consultation is carried out by means of a scoping report.

The scoping report sets out the sustainability categories being considered and it sets a baseline for the current situation locally in those categories by reference to available data.

From the data in the baseline, we identify key issues and potential problems. From those potential problems we have tried to address them with transport-related objectives.

The resultant table in which we should see a logical progression from sustainability issues identified from the baseline data through to objectives which may meaningfully inform the LTP is called the sustainability framework, and it is this we wish to seek feedback on through consultation. The Sustainability Framework is set out in section 4 of the Scoping Report.

Have your say

You can share your feedback on the Scoping Report using the survey link below.

Alternatively, you can respond via email or post:

Email: localtransportplan@northnorthants.gov.uk

Post: 
Local Transport Plan
North Northamptonshire Council
Sheerness House
41 Meadow Road
Kettering
NN16 8TL

The feedback received will be reviewed and, where appropriate, the scoping report will be updated. The scoping report will be used to inform the ongoing development of the LTP. Appendix 1 of the Scoping Report provides further detail on the stages in preparation of the ISA alongside the stages in preparation of the LTP.

If you would like an accessible version of the Scoping Report please email localtransportplan@northnorthants.gov.uk

This consultation closes at 23.59 on 24 May 2026.

For information about how consultation and engagement responses are managed, please see the consultation and engagement privacy notice.