Agenda item

James Doe introduced the officers presenting the report with him as Atholl Moon from Markides who have been working with us to develop the new policy and Andrew Horner and John Chapman who are officers with Dacorum.

J. Doe said that the parking standards in place at the moment are based on the 2004 Dacorum Borough Local Plan and we need to review those standards.The report presented tonight is very comprehensive.

Atholl said that w while had been spent investigating car parking in Dacourm and surveys were done and analysis of the census data was used to compile the report. It was concluded that the new standard should move towards a requirement, so a standard is set but it allows flexibility. Hemel Town Centre and surrounding areas and Berkhamsted were identified as areas where car ownership has changed.  For the rest of the area there was no clear evidence that it had  Accessibility Zones were recommended and standards were developed on that data. Flexibility was recommended as well with the onus being on the applicant to prove that it should be given.

Cllr Beauchamp said that Hemel Town has a high density of residential premises for the elderly and for those that are infirm, although they may not be heavy car users there is a high demand for parking there as they will have people coming to visit them. The people moving into the Town Centre will also be very different to existing residents and their requirements for parking may be higher – has that been taken into account?

A Moon replied that they have suggested flexibility to accommodate lower demand for parking on a particular site if you decided that evidence provided  showed it was appropriate for that site.

Cllr Birnie made the point that we had lost a large amount of office space in the town centre to development of mainly residential area.

Cllr Wyatt Lowe asked for an explanation of the term ‘car free’.

A Moon replied that it meant you could go for very low parking or car free in certain areas dependent on solid evidence being given by an applicant.

Cllr Ransley queried that Tring Zones 1 & 2 don’t appear on any map.

Atholl said that they had never seen Tring as somewhere the parking standard should be lowered, so it is not in an Accessibility Zone.

Cllr Hobson pointed out that these were relatively small areas meaning few places for re-development and asked how much difference will it make, she was also concerned with air quality and lowering car use.

J. Doe responded that in town centre areas it would make quite a significant difference because there are still some undeveloped sites.  Less so in Berkhamsted.  We know that there is a huge pressure for new housing need and we are a green belt borough and can only allow development in the green belt in very exceptional circumstances.

Cllr Tindall asked if the growing number of houses of multiple occupation was being taken into account.

A Moon explained that it was considered as far as possible.

Cllr Taylor said that the reason car ownership had not grown in Berkhamsted was that there was nowhere to physically park, and thought that there should be a case for providing more parking for example in new developments.He added that he feels car parking on the street in Berkhamsted is at saturation point.

A Moon said that he didn’t know if there was direct causation between the lower number of cars and the parking as people will walk quite a way to park if necessary. In circumstances where you think there is severe stress you can request that the applicant produce evidence on how their standard would meet those circumstances..

Cllr Birnie asked where the evidence has come from.

A Moon explained that the main evidence came from the 2011 census and was compared to the 2001 and there didn’t appear to be a major change in car ownership over that decade.

Cllr Timmis said that she represents an area which is villages and there is a huge parking problem a lot of houses have no garages or driveways. There is also a lack of public transport.  The newest development in the Village estimated 1.5 car parking spaces per 2 or 3 bedroom house and this has been inadequate resulting in overspill on the streets.

There followed a discussions about measurements allowed for car parking spaces.

Cllr Wyatt Lowe said that we should be discouraging people from owning cars because of the green issues, and wanted to know if that had played any part in the report.

A Moon said that there was a balance to be struck between car ownership and a shift to a more green way.He gave some examples of other forms of transport and the need for more public transport to support the green iniative

Cllr Birnie asked if we were trying to get more cars off the road and parked on site.

A Moon replied that it is correct wherever possible parking should be directed to be on site rather than off.

Cllr Rogers asked why the census from 2016 had not been looked at and asked a question regarding supermarkets requiring less parking.

A Moon replied that the 2016 census he is not aware that car ownership stats are updated on that but that he would check. A Moon went on that the requirement for parking in Supermarkets used to be quite high but with online sales etc the need had become less with the exception of Aldi and Lidl.

Cllr Tindall asked whether it had been taken into account that Hemel was built between the 50’s and 70’s and now those families are for whatever reason leaving the incoming families will have different requirements..

A Moon explained that they have had to use the data available at present although they recognise some of that will be happening.

Cllr Silwal asked why houses with 3 or 4 bedrooms had had spaces reduced and A Moon replied again this was based in data available. Cllr Anderson asked if this report was going to allow Development Management to turn down schemes with insufficient parking and James Doe replied that was exactly the intention. The policy is in draft at the moment and flexibility is needed and it has to be balanced with the need for affordable housing.

Cllr Birnie expressed his doubts about zoned parking saying he would prefer a clear cut policy.

Cllr Sutton explained that this an evolving situation we don’t yet know what modes of transport will be popular in times to come

J.Doe asked for any specific points to be forwarded to go to next committee. . 

The report was noted.