1.
When deciding what the parking standards should be for a new development it is important to think about where the development is located and how easy it is to get there without a car.
For example, people living in urban areas are more likely to be able to walk, cycle or get public transport to the places they need to go, compared to people living in rural areas. This means that car ownership is likely to be lower and new developments in urban areas could require fewer parking spaces than those in rural areas.
To enable proposals for new development to respond fully and flexibly to the characteristics of their location and accessibility, it is proposed that the SPD will express parking standards as neither a maximum nor a minimum, but as an optimum – i.e. the level of parking that should be provided unless specific local circumstances can justify deviating from them.
Do you have any comments on the SPD taking the above approach regarding the use of optimum parking standards based on location and accessibility?
