What Goes In Each Document

Per the TfL and CLOCS definition, a CMP details the procedures, sequencing and methodology for a construction project, aimed at demonstrating how the impact of construction can be minimised in relation to both on-site activity and the transport arrangements for vehicles servicing the site. In practice that means programme and phasing, site set-up, how the work will be carried out, and how vehicles serving the site will be managed.

A planning document setting out how construction will be managed so its impact is minimised. It is broader than a logistics or traffic plan because it covers on-site procedures and methodology as well as the vehicles servicing the site. It exists because a planning authority requires it, usually by condition, rather than because legislation names it.

When the local planning authority makes it one, either through the validation list for the application or as a condition on the permission. There is no national threshold. Authorities commonly require one where construction will materially affect neighbours or the highway, which in practice means constrained access, nearby sensitive uses, or significant delivery volumes.

Start from the condition wording and answer it point by point, because the condition is what has to be discharged. Then build the content out: programme and phasing, site set-up and hoarding, working hours, how the work will be done, vehicle routing and access, deliveries and waste, and how neighbours will be kept informed. Name who is responsible for each commitment. A plan that describes activity without naming responsibility is the most common reason for a request for further information.

Templates exist from various sources, but a template returned with generic answers is the single most common reason a submission goes back. A template is useful as a structure to make sure nothing is missed. It is not useful as content, because the whole point of the document is that it is specific to your site, your access and your neighbours.

A document required by a local planning authority setting out how construction vehicles will be managed: the routes they will use, the site access arrangements, when deliveries will happen, and the measures protecting pedestrians, cyclists and other road users. It is normally required by condition and has to be approved before work starts.

When the planning authority conditions one. Authorities attach the requirement where construction traffic could affect the public highway, which typically means constrained access, a nearby school, a bus route, a controlled parking zone, or simply the volume of deliveries the build will generate. It is the condition, not the scheme size, that creates the obligation.

Drawing on what authorities typically ask for: the construction programme and phasing, vehicle types and sizes, expected movements by phase including the peak, approved routes to and from the site, site access and egress points, loading and unloading arrangements, any parking suspensions or road closures needed, wheel washing and highway cleanliness, pedestrian and cyclist protection, and how the plan will be monitored. Always check your authority's own pro-forma, because several publish one and expect it used.

Several do, and where one exists you are usually expected to use it. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, for example, requires applicants to complete its pro-forma in full using the accompanying guidance notes, mark any inapplicable questions as not applicable, and submit it with the formal application form. Submitting free-form text where a pro-forma exists delays approval and may require resubmission in the proper format.

Regulation 12(2) requires it to set out the health and safety arrangements and site rules, taking account where necessary of the industrial activities taking place on the construction site, and to include specific measures for work falling within the categories in Schedule 3 of the regulations. Its content is health and safety, not highway impact.

The health and safety arrangements and site rules for the project, per regulation 12(2), proportionate to the risks involved, plus specific measures for any Schedule 3 work. Schedule 3 covers particular higher-risk categories of work, so if your project includes any of them the plan must address them specifically.

At minimum what regulation 12(2) requires: health and safety arrangements, site rules, account taken of industrial activities on the site where necessary, and specific measures for Schedule 3 work. Beyond the statutory minimum, the level of detail should be proportionate to the project. Take advice from a competent health and safety adviser on proportionality for your project.

The requirements are set by regulation 12(2) of the CDM Regulations 2015, not by a planning authority, and they are health and safety requirements. This matters practically: nobody will refuse to discharge a planning condition because of your construction phase plan, because it is not a planning submission.

Health and safety arrangements and site rules under regulation 12(2), with specific measures for Schedule 3 work. If you find yourself writing vehicle routing plans and swept path drawings into it, you are probably writing a CTMP or CLP and have the wrong document open.

The statutory content is the health and safety arrangements and site rules. What it does not include is the planning content: designated construction routes, delivery scheduling commitments given to a council, or the vehicle movement figures a highway authority wants. Those belong in the CTMP, CLP or CMP.

It varies enormously with project size, because the regulations require the content rather than a format. A small project may have a short document; a large one may have a substantial plan with appendices. There is no prescribed form, which is why proportionality rather than length is the test.

To make sure the health and safety arrangements and site rules for the construction work are thought through and written down before the site is set up, and kept current as the work proceeds. Regulation 12(1) ties it to the pre-construction phase and regulation 12(4) ties it to the whole project.

Planning health and safety for the construction phase specifically, as distinct from designing the finished building safely, which is the designer's duty, and from the health and safety file, which concerns the completed structure. Each CDM document covers a different period.

It sets the rules the site runs by. Because regulation 12(2) requires site rules, it is the document a subcontractor should be able to read to understand how this particular site operates.

A written, reviewable record of the health and safety arrangements for the construction phase. Regulation 12(4) requires it to be reviewed, updated and revised from time to time, so its value is as a live document rather than a one-off submission.

Running the site safely and demonstrating that the arrangements were planned. It is used by the principal contractor day to day, by subcontractors to understand the site rules, and as evidence of compliance with regulation 12 if anyone asks.

The TfL and CLOCS guidance defines a CEMP as outlining how a construction project will avoid, minimise or mitigate effects on the environment and the surrounding area. Typical content covers noise, dust, water, waste, ecology and pollution prevention during construction.

To set out, before work starts, how the environmental effects of construction will be avoided, minimised or mitigated. It is the environmental counterpart to a logistics or traffic plan, and the two are frequently conditioned together on larger schemes.

When the planning authority requires one, usually by condition, most commonly where a scheme has identified environmental sensitivities such as protected species, watercourses, air quality issues or noise-sensitive neighbours. As with the CMP and CTMP, there is no national threshold.

The TfL and CLOCS guidance sets seven sections: introduction; context, considerations and challenges; construction programme and methodology; vehicle routing and site access; strategies to reduce impacts; estimated vehicle movements; and implementing, monitoring and updating. Following that structure makes a submission straightforward to review.