Updated parking standards for new developments approved
Developers will need to follow a revised set of guidelines when they consider parking provisions for new developments.
On Tuesday 18 October, Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet approved an updated guide for parking standards for new developments. It means developers will need to work collaboratively with the council to help achieve the targets set in the Local Transport and Connectivity Plan (LTCP), which was adopted earlier this year.
The LTCP aims create a net zero transport system in Oxfordshire by 2040, improving health and wellbeing, tackling the climate emergency, reducing private vehicle use, and prioritising walking, cycling, and public transport.
Councillor Duncan Enright, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Travel and Development Strategy, said: “We know that in future people are going to use cars less frequently. Our new standards place much more emphasis on cycles, shared car clubs, and public transport than on multiple cars per household.
“Striking the right balance by providing an appropriate level and type of parking, while also protecting highway safety for all users and promoting active and sustainable transport modes, is essential. We also need to be aware of the viability of new developments for developers and people who will live there.”
The new parking standards document will be used to help determine the level of parking at new developments and provides the basis for the council’s advice to local planning authorities on the soundness of their policies.
It can also be a mechanism for improving the levels of cycle parking in areas that will benefit from the popularity of cycling for leisure and commuting purposes.
Cllr Enright, alongside Cabinet Member for Highways management Cllr Andrew Gant and Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Environment Cllr Pete Sudbury, will review issues raised by the scrutiny committee and bring an update back to cabinet before the end of the year.
The LTCP is a wide-ranging document with 54 policies and aims to provide the backbone for the council’s commitment to invest in an inclusive, integrated and sustainable transport network for the county.
It looks at ways of reducing the need to travel and discouraging unnecessary individual private vehicle use through making walking, cycling, public and shared transport the natural first choice. Its aims include reducing the number of car journeys in the county by more than half by 2040.
Last month, the council’s cabinet approved new requirements for transport planning based on the principle of ‘decide and provide’ rather than ‘predict and provide’, which will also help achieve the aims of the LTCP.
Click Sign up to hear from us and receive the latest news and updates thanks to our fortnightly newsletter, Your Oxfordshire.