Scottish Government

Scottish Planning Policy
SPP 17
Transport and Planning Maximum Parking Standards

Addendum to NPPG 17

March 2003

This document is also available in pdf format (140k)

CONTENTS

Summary
Introduction
Policy Context
Location of Development
Parking Standards
Application of Maximum Car Parking Standards
Parking for Disabled Users
Cycle Parking
National Maximum Car Parking Standards
Development Plan Implications
Development Control Implications
Enquiries
The Town and Country Planning (Notification of Applications) (Scotland) Amendment Direction 2003

PLANNING SERIES:

• Scottish Planning Policies (SPPs) provide statements of Scottish Executive policy on nationally important land use and other planning matters, supported where appropriate by a locational framework.
• Circulars, which also provide statements of Scottish Executive policy, contain guidance on policy implementation through legislative or procedural change.
• Planning Advice Notes (PANs) provide advice on good practice and other relevant information.

Statements of Scottish Executive policy contained in SPPs and Circulars may be material considerations to be taken into account in development plan preparation and development control.

Existing National Planning Policy Guidelines (NPPGs) have continued relevance to decision making, until such time as they are replaced by a SPP. The term SPP should be interpreted as including NPPGs.

Statements of Scottish Executive location-specific planning policy, for example the West Edinburgh Planning Framework, have the same status in decision making as SPPs.

SUMMARY

This addendum fulfils the commitment given in NPPG 17 Transport and Planning to issue further guidance on maximum parking standards.

Constraining car parking for new developments can help focus attention on the overall travel context of the development, including providing for travel by public transport, on foot and by cycle. Locating development where it is most accessible to more sustainable modes of travel particularly benefits those without access to a private car.

Councils should prepare, in consultation with stakeholders, maximum parking standards. Factors in determining standards include public transport accessibility; walking and cycling opportunities; economic development including tourism objectives; availability of public on-and off-street parking; town centre issues; and the need for parking control zones. Maximum parking standards may be underpinned by minimum parking standards where desirable to avoid on-street parking in the vicinity.

Sites where development aspirations are strong but public transport is weak require partnerships of Councils, developers and transport operators to invest in sustainable transport supported by maximum parking standards.

Councils should be sympathetic to the needs of shift workers and those working unsocial hours. Provision should also be made for disabled and cycle parking.

Residential development is not generally appropriate for maximum car parking standards.

In addition to locally derived maximum standards, National Maximum Car Parking Standards for 7 significant travel generating land uses are set out. These standards are supported by a new Development Control Referral Direction.

INTRODUCTION

1. National Planning Policy Guideline (NPPG) 17 Transport and Planning ¹ sets out Government policy on the integration of land use and transport planning. It indicated that further guidance would be issued on maximum parking standards. The publication of this addendum fulfils that commitment.

2. Research was specifically commissioned on maximum parking standards and inward investment. It concluded that car parking is unlikely to come into the decision making process until a specific site or range of sites has been identified. While transport is a primary issue, parking is secondary and not considered until comparing sites at a local level. There is no evidence that maximum car parking standards influence major inward investment decisions.

3. A Guide to Transport Assessment ² is published alongside this Addendum which covers all the transport impacts which a developer has to consider of which car parking is just one element. Further best practice advice on accessibility, travel plans, planning agreements, planning for key sites on the transport system and planning for mode share in new developments will be issued in the Planning Advice Note series in due course.

POLICY CONTEXT

4. A key goal of integrated transport policy is to promote the creation of sustainable patterns of development through joint consideration of transport, land use, economic development, social justice and the environment. Land use planning can contribute through:

• locating key travel generating developments so that they are readily accessible by walking, cycling and public transport, giving people a choice of mode in addition to the car;
• reducing the need to travel by locating land uses in relation to each other and to transport facilities;
• enabling people to access local facilities over local networks by short walking or cycling trips, in turn contributing to social justice;
• supporting provision of high quality public transport access to development, in order to persuade motorists that public transport is more attractive to them than car use; and
• supporting the management of motorised travel to enable it to undertake its essential role effectively, but in all other respects to contribute to sustainable transport objectives.

5. This Addendum is concerned with the role of maximum parking standards, including national maximum parking standards, in helping to achieve these objectives.

6. Constraining car parking also focuses attention on meeting the travel needs of development by a range of modes in addition to the private car. Getting the balance right between provision for the car and other means of accessing development sites can make an important contribution to more sustainable patterns of travel.

LOCATION OF DEVELOPMENT

7. The majority of trips start or finish at home. The location of new residential development has therefore a significant influence on travel patterns. There is also significant scope to influence travel at the destination end of trips. The location of major travel-generating uses is critical to the number and length of trips, particularly for shopping, business, leisure and education. The ability to control such developments, by locating them in places well served by public transport, especially town centres, and by restricting associated car parking, should gradually have an effect on traffic growth.

PARKING STANDARDS

APPLICATION OF MAXIMUM CAR PARKING STANDARDS

8. NPPG 17 already requires Councils to adopt maximum parking standards. Councils may also wish to have a set of minimum standards. This would ensure, in circumstances where there was a risk of significant on-street parking around a development, that developers would provide at least some on-site parking.

9. In determining maximum parking standards for new development Councils should take into account factors such as public transport accessibility and opportunities or proposals for enhancement; targets and opportunities for walking and cycling; objectives for economic development including tourism; the availability in the general area, particularly in town centres, of public on- and off-street parking provision; and potential for neighbouring developments sharing parking spaces, for example at different times of day or week. Provision for monitoring and review of parking standards will also be essential.

10. Within town centres it is less likely that individual developments will incorporate dedicated public off street car parking. Public off-street parking can, however, be sensitively developed, and cater for the needs of those from the rural hinterland and tourists. Developers of individual sites within the centre may be required to contribute to implementing the overall parking requirement for a town centre in lieu of individual parking provision. Such proposals should form part of a Transport Assessment

11. Councils should consider the likelihood of maximum parking standards causing potential parkers to seek nearby on-street parking alternatives. In circumstances where this appears likely, and where on-street parking will undermine the transport and policy objectives and introduce operational congestion and safety issues into the local network, parking control zones may be necessary. Implementing and enforcing these zones can, however, be time consuming and resource intensive. However if insuperable problems are likely to arise, the development is probably not located in the right place, and Councils should assist in finding a suitable alternative .

12 The more accessible an area is by sustainable modes, the more restrictive the parking standards may be. Conversely in rural areas where public transport is scarce, standards may be more relaxed. Variations in standards should not however undermine the viability of town centres by creating incentives to develop elsewhere.

13. Some Councils may have locations which constitute key nodes on their public transport network serving an extensive catchment population. Their potential should be maximised through encouraging high density development, consistent with other planning policies, for example on quality design and high building. In these locations it may be appropriate to apply more stringent maximum parking standards in respect of particular types of development. Transport Assessments would both demonstrate the role of public transport in accessing the development, and support it through fostering use in Travel Plans and/or through developer contributions.

14. There may also, however, be areas where development aspirations are strong but traditionally public transport is weak, and car would therefore be the normal means of travel. If there are good reasons to wish to fulfil these aspirations, then Councils should enter into partnerships with developers and transport operators to give these locations a more sustainable transport profile in which appropriate parking standards play a role.

15. For employment uses, consideration should be given to the issue of 24 hour shift working where means other than the car for employee transport may be problematic, and parking areas will have to cope with shift changeover. Travel Plans may be one mechanism for handling the sensitive transport issues arising from unsocial hours working, by organising dedicated employee buses, or car sharing schemes, or arranging for staggered shift changes for example. Councils should however be generally sympathetic to the needs of shift workers. Planning agreements may help avoid abuse of resultant parking space provided.

16. If constraining parking at trip destinations has the desired effect of reducing numbers of car trips, while car ownership remains unconstrained, more cars will have to remain parked at home. Residential development should, therefore, be excluded from maximum car parking standards. Planning authorities, in the context of highly accessible sites, should however consider applying locally derived maximum car parking standards to such residential development, including in appropriate cases car-free housing. Paragraph 46 of PAN57 ³ deals with design aspects of residential parking, including car-free housing. Standards for quality of design are probably more important than numerical standards in most residential areas. The Scottish Executive will undertake research into the design of circulation space in residential areas in 2003/4.

17. Maximum parking standards should be applicable to all new development in specified land uses. Where planning applications are received for extensions to existing development, the new gross parking maximum should be calculated on the new gross floorspace inclusive of the extension. This could result in no car parking being allowed in respect of an extension.

PARKING FOR DISABLED USERS

18. Specific provision should be made for disabled parking. This should be in addition to the general parking allowed under the maximum standard. Subject to what follows below, the amount, location and design of this provision should be discussed with local disability groups.

19. Employers have a duty under employment law to take the disabilities of their employees and visitors to their premises into consideration. Employees can declare themselves as disabled without necessarily fulfilling the requirements of eligibility for the Blue Badge disabled parking scheme. Employers should therefore make available sufficient parking spaces for disabled drivers, convenient to the access to the premises, and take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that these spaces are clearly marked and in practice reserved for disabled parkers. A minimum standard is set out in Table 1 below, based on the applicable maximum standard size irrespective of whether that amount of car parking is provided or not. Planning authorities, in granting permission for employment land uses, should include a condition that disabled parking spaces are provided in an appropriate location to enable the employer to fulfil his duty under employment law.

20. For retail, recreation and leisure uses spaces for disabled car parking should be allocated convenient to the entrance of the premises and to at least the minimum standard in Table 1 below. The number of spaces above the minimum standard, their location and design should be discussed with local disability groups. Local authorities have powers under The Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 to designate by an order under The Local Authorities' Traffic Orders (Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 1999 spaces for disabled parking on private land with the agreement of the land owner. Such designation allows disabled parking to be enforced by police, traffic wardens, or in areas with decriminalised parking, parking attendants. Local authorities should consider designation, especially where there is a history of abuse of disabled parking provision in retail, leisure and recreation developments in the area.

Table 1 - Minimum Disabled Car Parking Standards

CYCLE PARKING

21. Cycle parking at developments and in town centres should continue to be provided as before. Within development sites, Councils should ensure that secure cycle parking is more conveniently located to building entrances than the car parking. Authorities should set cycle parking standards taking into account local circumstances along with the indicative standards referred to in Table 11.1 of "Cycling by Design" (Scottish Executive December 1999).

NATIONAL MAXIMUM CAR PARKING STANDARDS

22. National maximum car parking standards for a small number of significant travel-generating land uses are set out in Table 2 below.

Table 2 - National Maximum Car Parking Standards

DEVELOPMENT PLAN IMPLICATIONS

23. For the main conurbations it would be appropriate to set agreed strategic maximum parking standards at a City Region level and publish them in Development Plans as they are reviewed. As most Structure Plans are recently approved, however, it makes sense in the interim to use whatever policy document is available i.e. Local Plans, Local Transport Strategies or Regional Transport Strategies. For maximum standards not categorised by structure plan partners as strategic, it would be appropriate to publish these in Local Plans.

24. In some situations e.g. major settlements within large rural hinterlands where public transport networks and service frequencies are inadequate to provide the required degree of accessibility, Councils may conclude that specific development proposals should be supported by a level of car parking that exceeds national standards. The strategic argument should be made in development plans and to the extent approved, these standards would then supersede the national standards.

DEVELOPMENT CONTROL IMPLICATIONS

25. Prospective developers may, for specific developments, seek exemptions from maximum car parking standards. The case for exemptions should be made in a Transport Assessment . To achieve national consistency and monitoring of the standards, a Referral Direction has been issued simultaneously with this Addendum. This requires any development over the thresholds within the categories set out in the national maximum car parking standards which breaches these standards to be referred to the Scottish Ministers.

ENQUIRIES

26. Enquiries about the content of this SPP should be addressed to Tom Williamson, Planning Division 2, Room 2-H77, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh, EH6 6QQ, (0131 244 7531) or by e-mail to tom.williamson@scotland.gsi.gov.uk . Further copies of this SPP and a list of current SPPs/NPPGs and PANs may be obtained from Planning Division (0131 244 7066). This SPP is also available within The Scottish Executive web-site at www.scotland.gov.uk/planning/

THE TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING (NOTIFICATION OF APPLICATIONS) (SCOTLAND) AMENDMENT DIRECTION 2003

The Scottish Ministers, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by Articles 17, 19, and 22(3) of the Town and Country Planning (General Development Procedure) (Scotland) Order 1992(a) and all other powers enabling them in that behalf, hereby give the following Direction:

1. The Schedule to the Town and Country Planning (Notification of Applications) (Scotland) Direction 1997 shall be amended as follows:-

1 .1 After paragraph 18 insert:-

"Maximum Car Parking Standards

19. Development falling within the categories set out in the Table below, where the amount of car parking proposed is in excess of the maximum standard contained in the Table, and for which a planning authority is minded to grant consent.

2. This Direction may be cited as the Town and Country Planning (Notification of Applications) (Scotland) Amendment Direction 2003

IAN FIRTH
Principal
The Scottish Executive Development Department
Victoria Quay
EDINBURGH
EH6 6QQ

6 March 2003