Parking Standards for New Developments Draft (Nov 2022)

Insufficient allocation of parking spaces considering the medium to long term needs of the population.
If the CBC looks at current housing trends, it is clear that current parking space allocations are insufficient based on a number of factors.
1. Most homes will have an average of 1 car per adult, this means that even 1 bedroom homes will need 2. Families with young adults 17 or older will likely also need additional space for vehicles.

2. In homes with multi generational families the requirements will naturally increase. Halifax research conducted in Jan 2022 showed that in every area of the UK, average age of home ownership is over 30.

3. There are not enough affordable houses being built, and not enough schemes available to support home buyers so again people will stay at home longer.

4. Insufficient parking leads to on street parking which creates issues for traffic, for emergency services, for disabled access, for public transport etc creating a host of longer term issues for local councils and CBC.

5. It just makes more sense to plan based on the reality of car ownership in the 21st century. Current CBC parking allocation modelling appears based on more people walking (which means local infrastructure not currently in place) and the concept that only one person in a two adult household travels (multiply for larger households). As most people work, at least part time, and with a cost of living crisis and recession that is likely to mean more people will increase their working to increase their income (as the Uk Government is planning for them to do), travel needs for families are not likely to reverse to meet the allocation modelling currently used by CBC.

Planning ahead (and arguably this isn’t really planning ahead, it’s planning for the reality of Central Beds in 2022) now will save time, money, and energy later.

1 bedroom houses need min 2 spaces
2 bedroom houses need min 3 spaces
3 bedroom houses need min 4 spaces
4 bedroom houses need min 4 spaces (it needs to be capped somewhere).
5 bedroom houses need min 4 spaces etc