Vehicle Parking Standards - Southend-on-Sea Borough Council

ESSEX PLANNING OFFICERS ASSOCIATION<strong>Vehicle</strong> P arking <strong>Standards</strong>August 2001document are intended to provide a consistent and standardframework that can be equitably applied across the Essex,<strong>Southend</strong> and Thurrock area.All standards relate to the gross floorspace of new orextended development unless otherwise stated.All references to parking spaces refer to car spaces.Environmental ConsiderationsThe local planning authority may consider it desirable thatadditional land be provided in order that car parking areasmay be suitably screened and landscaped. It is consideredthat such additional provision of land is a matter for negotiationbetween the intending developer and the local planningauthority.The importance of good design is emphasised. Car parkingareas are rarely attractive visually and should always belocated in such positions as to minimise their impact onthe townscape, and in such positions that would encouragetheir use. They should be designed so that people feelcomfortable using them after dark.Operational and Non-operational <strong>Parking</strong>In producing car parking standards in the past, severalplanning authorities have distinguished between operationaland non-operational parking requirements, where operationalparking space is defined as the space required forvehicles regularly and necessarily involved in the operationof the business for which the premises are used. Thisincludes space for commercial vehicles and for loading andunloading goods, but does not include space for vehiclesto be stored, except where this is necessary as part of thebusiness being carried on in the building. Non-operationalparking space is reserved for vehicles which do not needto park on site. It has been decided not to follow this formatin the present document but to distinguish instead betweencar parking provision and provision for service vehiclesdelivering goods to premises or removing goods therefrom.No distinction is made between operational and non-operationalcar parking in the standards set out in this document.The guidance includes reference to the provision of spacefor the loading and unloading of service vehicles for eachUse Class where applicable. This is considered in furtherdetail below.Calculation of <strong>Parking</strong> RequirementsIt will be noted that most of the standards are related tofloorspace area. Thus, where the standard is, for example,one car parking space for every 4m 2 of floorspace, and adevelopment has a relevant floorspace of 19m 2 , a calculationof 4 into 19 gives 4.75 spaces which is rounded downto the nearest whole number to give a total requirementof 4 spaces.Where a development incorporates two or more land usesto which different parking standards are applicable, thestandards appropriate for each use should be simultaneouslyapplied in proportion to the extent of the respective use.For example, where a development incorporates housing andoffices, each use should be assessed separately accordingto the appropriate standard, and the aggregated numberof resulting parking spaces reflects the maximum numberof spaces that should be provided.Shared Use ProvisionWhere shared use of parking areas can be achieved withoutconflict (i.e. where uses are clearly separated in terms oftime of day or day of the week) this is highly desirable,provided that the provision is within the most demandingstandard applicable. This may result in a reduction of thenumber of parking spaces which a developer provides.Service <strong>Vehicle</strong>sService vehicles are regarded as those vehicles deliveringgoods to or removing goods from a premises. It is recognisedthat servicing requirements may be unique to aparticular site. Service traffic varies with the type of enterprisewithin a given use class (e.g. the traffic serving a furnitureshop may be very different in frequency and character fromthat supplying a supermarket). For this reason, no standarddimensions are provided for parking and turning spaces forservice vehicles. It is considered that commercial enterprisesshould analyse their own requirements in terms of the size,numbers and types of commercial vehicles visiting theirpremises and should demonstrate to the local authoritythat any development proposal includes sufficient servicevehicle provision to meet normal requirements. Such serviceprovision should be clearly signed and marked to avoidbeing utilised as an overflow parking area.page five