The Law and Policy Behind It

The TfL and CLOCS guidance points to several instruments. The Highways Act 1980 is described as the Act which most of the activities pertaining to CLPs utilise. Part 2 of the Traffic Management Act 2004 sets out the responsibility of local authorities to manage traffic networks in their area, including efficient use of the network and taking measures to avoid contributing to congestion. Local planning authority policy carries a statutory responsibility to minimise disruption to nearby residents and the local economy.

The National Planning Policy Framework was revised on 17 August 2026 and moved from numbered paragraphs to a policy structure. Policy TR6 provides that development should only be refused on transport grounds where there would be an unacceptable impact on highway safety, or where the residual cumulative impacts on the road network would be severe. Demonstrating safe and suitable access is how an applicant shows neither limb is engaged.

No. Paragraph numbering was replaced when the NPPF was revised on 17 August 2026. The safe and suitable access and severe impact test now sits in Policy TR6. Citing paragraph 108 in a submission dated after that revision signals that the document was copied from an older template.

Policy TR4 concerns street design, access and parking. It requires that the arrangement of streets and other routes helps to create places that are safe, inclusive and attractive for all users. It also introduces flexibility when applying parking standards to large retail and redevelopment schemes to assist regeneration.

Yes. The August 2026 revision introduced a dedicated freight and logistics policy, which is new. Anyone preparing construction logistics documents should read it directly rather than rely on summaries, because it is recent enough that most templates in circulation predate it.

Part 2 places responsibility on local authorities to manage the traffic network in their area, including making efficient use of it and taking measures to avoid contributing to congestion. A construction project generating heavy vehicle movements engages that duty directly, which is why the highway authority has a say in how your site is served.

The guidance defines it as an approach to road danger reduction working toward eliminating road traffic deaths and serious injuries by reducing the dominance of motor vehicles on streets. Where an authority has adopted Vision Zero, expect construction vehicle movements near vulnerable road users to be scrutinised more closely and expect CLOCS compliance to be treated as non-negotiable.

In practice authorities regularly condition it, and CLOCS compliance is frequently written into conditions as a requirement. Where it is conditioned, it becomes enforceable in the same way as any other condition, so it needs to be deliverable by the contractor rather than promised and forgotten.

It does not mandate it, but it points strongly in that direction. The guidance says higher impact developments require additional details with input from a construction logistics specialist, and CLOCS recommends that anyone writing a CLP gains CLP Practitioner Accreditation. Some authorities have adopted that recommendation in their own guidance.

The version developed by Transport for London and adapted by CLOCS for UK-wide implementation is version 1.2, dated April 2021. Check the CLOCS website before starting a submission, because guidance is periodically revised and a submission built on a superseded version is easy for a reviewer to spot.