Parking problems.
01 March 2005, 10:06 PM
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Parking problems.
The following from the Associated Press:
Parking Problems For Builders
Although a fast-growing number of households need at least two cars for work and leisure purposes, planners are making it increasingly difficult to build new houses with both garage and parking spaces which growing families require, claim leading housebuilders.
Philip Davies, chief executive of Linden Homes, building 31 developments in Southern, North-West, Chiltern and Western regions of England, says current planning policy guidance on new housing is "tantamount to a war against cars, forcing us to provide insufficient car parking spaces on new developments.
"We cannot build double garages or even provide two parking spaces, an absurdity in the context of the two-car needs of most couples and families," he complains.
Davies says current Government policy misses the target - on two counts.
Firstly, it pushes more cars onto the road - increasing dangers to children and risks of car crime, and spoiling the appearance of residential environments outside working hours when more people are at home.
Secondly, it is accompanied by Government directives to local authorities to cut back availability of parking in urban areas where public transport is readily available.
Davies claims that, in many cases, local councillors see the need for more parking spaces to avoid strife between car owners. But council officers say it can't be done - for fear of offending Government guidelines.
These are driven by the fashionable concept of "sustainable communities"
for new developments which implies greater use of public transport. Making life tougher for motorists is central to this approach.
Says Davies: "The big problem is that Ministers tend to look over housing developments in the daytime, when everybody is at work.
"It means builders are pushed into doing something which they know doesn't work, but nobody is listening. The consultation paper issued by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott on revisions to the PPG3 planning guidelines completely ignore the problem."
Davies' criticism is fully supported by Nicholas Smith, the land, planning and design director at Centex UK, whose Fairclough Homes operation builds in Southern, Central, North-West England and also in Yorkshire.
Says Smith: "We recently built 46 apartments in the heart of Reading with
26 permitted parking spaces, and the first 26 to sell had their own spaces.
"Under the PPG3 planning guidance note, our customers are supposed to use buses and trains - but the transport infrastructure simply doesn't exist to satisfactory standards in most areas.
"In Milton Keynes, we are trying to sell a five-bedroomed house at £400,000-plus with single garage and one parking space - and this specific point makes it difficult to find a buyer. We wanted a double garage and two further spaces, but planners wouldn't hear of it."
The idea of driving motorists out of their cars was evident in early designs of Greenwich Millennium Village, where 600 homes are already occupied in the shadow of the ill-fated Dome. Owners there are expected to use Jubilee Line and Docklands Light Railway to cut car use.
Whether the concept is equally prominent at three more Millennium Communities planned elsewhere - Islington in Manchester, Allerton Bywater near Leeds and East Ketley near Telford - and others on the drawing board remains to be seen.
If planners, nationally, continue to make life more difficult for drivers, the premium commanded by older properties with both garage and ample parking spaces is likely to widen.
Soon, homeowners will be ready to pay considerably more to get vehicles off the road - to avoid bust-ups with neighbours.
Parking Problems For Builders
Although a fast-growing number of households need at least two cars for work and leisure purposes, planners are making it increasingly difficult to build new houses with both garage and parking spaces which growing families require, claim leading housebuilders.
Philip Davies, chief executive of Linden Homes, building 31 developments in Southern, North-West, Chiltern and Western regions of England, says current planning policy guidance on new housing is "tantamount to a war against cars, forcing us to provide insufficient car parking spaces on new developments.
"We cannot build double garages or even provide two parking spaces, an absurdity in the context of the two-car needs of most couples and families," he complains.
Davies says current Government policy misses the target - on two counts.
Firstly, it pushes more cars onto the road - increasing dangers to children and risks of car crime, and spoiling the appearance of residential environments outside working hours when more people are at home.
Secondly, it is accompanied by Government directives to local authorities to cut back availability of parking in urban areas where public transport is readily available.
Davies claims that, in many cases, local councillors see the need for more parking spaces to avoid strife between car owners. But council officers say it can't be done - for fear of offending Government guidelines.
These are driven by the fashionable concept of "sustainable communities"
for new developments which implies greater use of public transport. Making life tougher for motorists is central to this approach.
Says Davies: "The big problem is that Ministers tend to look over housing developments in the daytime, when everybody is at work.
"It means builders are pushed into doing something which they know doesn't work, but nobody is listening. The consultation paper issued by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott on revisions to the PPG3 planning guidelines completely ignore the problem."
Davies' criticism is fully supported by Nicholas Smith, the land, planning and design director at Centex UK, whose Fairclough Homes operation builds in Southern, Central, North-West England and also in Yorkshire.
Says Smith: "We recently built 46 apartments in the heart of Reading with
26 permitted parking spaces, and the first 26 to sell had their own spaces.
"Under the PPG3 planning guidance note, our customers are supposed to use buses and trains - but the transport infrastructure simply doesn't exist to satisfactory standards in most areas.
"In Milton Keynes, we are trying to sell a five-bedroomed house at £400,000-plus with single garage and one parking space - and this specific point makes it difficult to find a buyer. We wanted a double garage and two further spaces, but planners wouldn't hear of it."
The idea of driving motorists out of their cars was evident in early designs of Greenwich Millennium Village, where 600 homes are already occupied in the shadow of the ill-fated Dome. Owners there are expected to use Jubilee Line and Docklands Light Railway to cut car use.
Whether the concept is equally prominent at three more Millennium Communities planned elsewhere - Islington in Manchester, Allerton Bywater near Leeds and East Ketley near Telford - and others on the drawing board remains to be seen.
If planners, nationally, continue to make life more difficult for drivers, the premium commanded by older properties with both garage and ample parking spaces is likely to widen.
Soon, homeowners will be ready to pay considerably more to get vehicles off the road - to avoid bust-ups with neighbours.
01 March 2005, 10:28 PM
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Aye, there have been a couple of complexes of flats built round here that I have had a nosey round. The sales gumf goes along the lines of "5o luxury apartments, with secure off-road parking" except they neglect to mention there is only 30 spaces.
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