News and other Busyness

Cars Get In The Way Of New Homes

Squall 16, Summer 1998, pg. 11.

More homes could be built in London if car parking was restricted, a new report says.

The report, Design Solutions for Increasing Urban Housing Capacity, says 40 per cent of all space on housing estates is given over to car parking. Reducing the space, or getting rid of it altogether, would increase space for housing.

A similar message was given to MPs hearing an inquiry into the need for 4.4 million new homes over the next 20 years. Officials from Serplan, the South East Regional Planning body, told the inquiry in March: "We favour a reduction in car parking standards. It's a question of gaining access to a car when it's needed." The London Planning Advisory Council added that public transport was making car use 'less attractive' and that car-free estates and car pooling systems were being taken more and more seriously.

Andrew Ross, policy officer for the Town and Country Planning Association, who published the report, said: "There is a finite amount of land in urban areas. If we want more housing to go into them, then we must make some difficult choices about how we use this space."