This is prepared by the Scheme Manager or delegated to the design team to produce and then approved by the Client (road/highway authority), it should consist of, but not be limited to:-

• short description of the scheme and its purpose
• design standards adopted
• programme for implementation
• scheme plans, including a location plan at an appropriate scale to identify any design issues
• any Departures and Relaxations from Design Standards
• the minimum of at least the latest 36 months of personal injury collision data for the site and its approaches, including a plot of collision locations and narrative description of incidents   (LA base rather than just Crashmap if collisions are identified (where possible)
• a design statement (including environmental considerations) if available
• a traffic impact assessment including existing and forecast traffic flows, if available
• previous road safety audit reports relevant to the current scheme, including design decisions made as a result of the previous audits – this will inform the audit team as to the risks within the design that have already been accepted by the highway authority, and hence should not be mentioned again in the current audit unless the design has changed significantly.
• Relevant swept paths, speed, and current traffic flows
• Any appropriate times for undertaking site visit i.e. school times if required

The validity of including previous audits needs to be considered in terms of both the changes to the scheme and the time period over which the previous audits have been undertaken.  If audits are more than 5 years old, their relevance to the current conditions should be reassessed. Similarly, if there have been significant changes to the scheme that were not the result of previous audit recommendations, the previous audit reports would not be relevant.

The Brief needs to provide sufficient information for the auditor to demonstrate their competence in undertaking the required audit.  It should identify the key components of the audit without necessarily providing full detailed information.

A typical audit Pro-forma can be found at: GG119 Appendix C

It is acceptable to issue the audit Brief without including all detailed information.  However, where documents or plans are not included, the found viewed if necessary. (i.e. scale and number of drawings; duration of traffic surveys and summary collision data).  Even for the smallest scheme at the earliest stage of the audit, it needs to be more than just a single layout plan of the proposed scheme.

If the Brief is produced by a Developer’s design team, the local highway authority authorised officer (HAAO) needs to approve the audit brief before the Developer’s representative includes it in the commission to the approved audit team.