As soon as a new development is proposed, the immediate knee-jerk reaction from local communities and elected members is typically, “What about the traffic?” It is a highly contentious issue that can stall a project for months, if not years, if it is handled poorly. But what if you could look at your development proposal through the exact lens of the local authority highways officer reviewing it? What if you knew exactly what information they needed to satisfy an anxious planning committee, before they even asked for it? For Dom, a Partner at iTransport, that is not a hypothetical exercise — it is his daily strategy. iTransport is an independent transport specialist working with developers, planning consultants and public bodies on development and infrastructure schemes across the UK. Over the years, the firm has built an exceptional track record of getting complex transport planning issues resolved. Their secret weapon? A deep, company wide understanding of how local government actually works, driven by senior experts who have spent years sitting on the other side of the table.
The Gamekeeper Turned Poacher
Before joining iTransport in 2017, Dom spent nearly a decade within West Sussex County Council. He worked his way up through the ranks to manage the County Highways Development Management Team, overseeing development proposals across the region. If there is a town, village, or country lane in West Sussex, Dom knows it like the back of his hand. This “gamekeeper turned poacher” background has proven invaluable to iTransport’s clients. “Having that Council background gives you a much broader understanding of the bigger picture,” Dom explains. “You quickly learn that transport planning is about far more than just the technical analysis, numbers and traffic models. It is fundamentally about people, policy and balancing competing priorities.” When Dom was a local authority officer, he regularly encountered private consultants who treated council requests as obstruction or unnecessary bureaucracy. But when he evaluated iTransport’s submissions from his council desk, he noticed something different. “I was always struck by iTransport’s integrity and professionalism,” says Dom, “they understood that when a council officer asks for additional details, they aren’t trying to be difficult. They are gathering the precise evidence they will need when they stand in front of a planning committee to justify a positive recommendation. I saw iTransport always acting as an effective, reliable bridge between the developer and the council.”
Thinking Like an Officer
The collaborative philosophy Dom spotted all those years ago, still defines how iTransport operates today. Instead of fighting local authorities, iTransport works with them. Because many of the firm’s senior leaders share a public sector background, they can anticipate an officer’s perspective in the earliest stages of a project, rather than waiting for objections to derail an application down the line. This dynamic is especially crucial given the current resourcing pressures facing local authorities. Council officers are juggling tight budgets, political sensitivities and ever-shifting national frameworks. Naturally, their primary objective is to interpret policy, manage community expectations and secure infrastructure improvements that benefit the wider public. On the other side, private consultants operating in multi-disciplinary teams are focused on development economics, architectural design, landscaping and commercial viability. These two worlds frequently clash. “As a council officer, I remember thinking, ‘Why can’t this developer just fund the off-site cycle path I’m asking for?’” Dom recalls. “But having crossed over to private consultancy, I now understand the bigger picture of scheme viability. It isn’t that the developer doesn’t want to build the cycle path; it’s that they are already funding a critical flood alleviation scheme, heritage preservation, or affordable housing. My job now is to put myself back in the officer’s shoes, pre-empt their concerns and find a commercially sensible solution that keeps everyone happy.”
Diligence in Action: The Bolney Case Study
This balanced approach was perfectly illustrated during a recent project in Bolney, Mid Sussex. During the public consultation stage for a proposed residential development, local residents raised serious concerns about the village’s highly limited existing bus services. A traditional, adversarial approach might have seen the consultant push back, citing network capacity models to prove that the development didn’t strictly require public transport upgrades to achieve compliance. But Dom chose collaboration instead. Drawing on his long-standing working relationship with the regional bus operator, Dom picked up the phone. Together, they co-created a practical sustainable transport strategy tailored to the development. The resulting solution successfully increased the local bus frequency, introduced brand-new stops directly serving the village and provided modern waiting infrastructure. It was a total win-win. The local community received a major infrastructure upgrade, the council met its sustainable travel policy objectives and it remained a highly cost-effective option for a client who was genuinely committed to sustainable development. Unsurprisingly, planning permission was granted and the client was absolutely delighted.
Navigating an Ever-Changing Landscape
The world of transport planning is evolving rapidly. National policy has fundamentally shifted away from old-school calculations of “how many cars can we fit on this road” toward active travel, public transport and the modern “Vision and Validate” methodology. However, individual local authorities across the UK are adopting these changes at completely different speeds. What works perfectly for an ultra-progressive, sustainable-focused urban council might be entirely rejected by a rural authority that is still catching up to the curve. This variance makes every single piece of work entirely unique. The strategy required to unlock a site might fail in another. Success requires an advisor who is agile, highly diligent and capable of seamlessly adapting to differing council expectations while holding onto the core principles of robust transport engineering. Because iTransport remains a highly focused, independent specialist, our senior team members are completely immersed in the day-to-day realities of transport policy. They don’t dilute their focus by trying to be a “one-stop-shop” for every engineering discipline; instead, they focus exclusively on what they do best: unlocking planning consents and solving complex infrastructure riddles.
A Simple Invitation
Ultimately, transport planning shouldn’t be a game of heads-or-tails or a courtroom battle with local government. It is a process that yields the best results when built on transparency, meticulous preparation and mutual respect. When asked what he would say to a potential client if he had just a one-floor lift ride to explain the firm’s ethos, Dom keeps it incredibly simple and refreshingly conversational: “I’d want them to know that they can genuinely pick up the phone with a complex transport problem and our team will be excited to roll up our sleeves and help them find a solution.”
