I'm considering my response to a planning application whereby a commercial building in a mainly residential area would be replaced by 17
2 bed flats with 11 parking spaces. I'm hoping someone on here will know where to look up the general guidelines councils apply e.g. on average, how many extra cars might you expect from 34 bedrooms in the south east? Is there a formula? I don't want to complain unreasonably (people have to live somewhere) but, as it stands, it sounds like parking chaos. Any pointers appreciated.
And it could be worse than that - a double bed for Mum and Dad and a stay at home son = 3 cars per flat! OK, that's the upper limit but that gives added weight to the 2 cars per flat.
Hm, 2 and 1.5 respectively, making this application a little unrealistic. At least I now know the terminology, "parking standards". My council (Bromley) only shows an appendix to them, which is useful :-)
As somebody has pointed out, it varies with the local authority and with the provision of public transport and other factors.
The guideline in my (city) area is 1.25 spaces per flatted dwelling with special justification required in terms of public transport or other considerations if the provision drops below 1 space pre dwelling.
I notice that one of the linked docs had a maximum recommended provision (1.5?) rather than a minimum.
Hmmn, that's helpful, give them a call, our lot are pretty helpful and should be able to advise if you give them a rundown of the property type. Actually, if it's been given a reference then there should be a planning officer assigned to the job who will be able to tell you what they will be looking for from the developer.
The upper limit could include the SaH son/daughter's boy/girl friend round as well, plus any of the parents' friends too. One of my neighbours' houses often has 5 cars outside.
It is supposed to be chaos. The aim is to cram as many little boxes in as small a space as possible and make the occupants to travel by bus or bicycle. Car parking is viewed as inefficient use of space.
The document you need is PPS3 which replaced PPG3 which aimed "to promote accessibility to jobs, shopping, leisure facilities and services by public transport, walking and cycling and to reduce the need to travel, especially by car."
"Reducing the amount of parking in new development (and in the expansion and change of use in existing development) is essential, as part of a package of planning and transport measures, to promote sustainable travel choices. At the same time, the amount of good quality cycle parking in developments should be increased to promote more cycle use."
Although PPG3 has been replaced and PPS3 is less prescriptive PPG3 still lives on in many authorities. It imposed an _upper_ limit of
1.5 parking spaces per dwelling. There was no minimum requirement in PPG3. It recommended that the under-provision of parking should be accompanied by imposing parking restrictions on surrounding roads to make sure life was as inconvenient as possible for as many as possible.
As well as PPS3
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"Manual for Street" has more information
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particular it emphasises the need for maximising bicycle parking.
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a number of guides "Car Parking: What works where" about 2/3 way down. They should provide you with some useful information.
Thank yourself lucky it's not a Mosque getting built or a conversion to one .One near me was given permission a couple of years ago ...a villa on a narrow but busy road and every Friday it's a nightmare .cars abandoned everywhere and it got worse when the "Traffic Management" folk got to work with bollards at corners and humps on side roads etc etc .
Common sense says that at least one space per dwelling. Unless some of the expected occupants are likely to be non-drivers, sheltered housing for example.
As others have said, you need to check what your LPA's requirements are. In LB Richmond the minimum was also the maximum, the argument being that if there is nowhere to park, you won't buy a car.
And possibly 2 or 3 tradesmens vans. There are a few of these 'conversions' round here and the limited parking is a right PITA if you need easy access to your van. Worked in one week before last, what with me, a CORGI guy & a Sky bloke + all the residents cars it was like one of those 15 piece slide puzzles.
And I guess you could have Tesco delivering your shopping, Pizza man, Chinese etc.
Officially none of those count as according to the govmint they only stop for 3-4 minutes when residents are not in occupation and therefore no allowance must be made for them. You must learn to work quicker :-)
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