Government urged to clarify residential parking provision

16 April 2008

Ministers have been urged to act to prevent a ‘free-for-all’ in local government’s interpretation of the new, relaxed, residential car parking standards.

Technical officers are concerned by anecdotal evidence that, following new, less-prescriptive guidance on the number of parking spaces which can be provided with new housing developments, some councils are now maximising parking provision.

Bob White, Kent County Council transport and development business manager, has raised his concerns with the Department for Communities and Local Government.

‘Officers in some counties are telling me that, following the problems caused by the previous planning guidance’s advice that no more than 1.5 spaces per dwelling should be provided, the politicians are now going for “problem-busting” higher standards.’

But the aim of the fresh guidance in PPS3 was to encourage an evidence-based approach, said White, not ‘predict and provide,’ but ‘taking account of’ expected levels of car ownership. The DCLG’s residential car parking research suggested that, on average, 1.5 parking spaces per dwelling ‘was about right’. But what was appropriate would vary significantly, he said, depending on housing size and tenure, location and, crucially, how spaces were provided.

Unallocated spaces were ‘much more efficient in terms of space’.

Surveys had shown that most garages, by contrast, were not used for parking cars, so were not a reliable means of providing parking. But until local planning authorities adopted new parking standards, there would be ‘a policy vacuum’. He wanted the DCLG to promote good practice, raising awareness of the work being done by Kent and others, including Dorset and Oxfordshire, to identify necessary parking provision.

Phil Jones, one of the consultants carrying out the work for these counties, and producing the methodology for the DCLG, was ‘disappointed’ that more authorities had not used it.

‘The worry is that authorities will go for a “belt and braces” approach, and maximise provision. ‘One-and-a-half spaces is generally too few for a suburban family home, but not much for inner-city dwellings.’

Councils could not simply say, ‘let’s provide two spaces for a two-bed house’ because local development frameworks containing parking standards ‘have to be evidence-based’.

Stephen Hardy, Dorset County Council principal planner, said under-supplying had ‘led to inappropriate parking that has prevented access by service vehicles and emergency vehicles,’ but this did not mean that authorities should over-supply. The challenge was to carry out ‘an objective assessment’ of the amount of provision one could ‘reasonably expect’.

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