A BID to tackle car parking problems in residential areas across Worcester has been thrown out by city council planning chiefs.
County council chiefs had hoped to rubber-stamp a county-wide standard for parking per home when planning permission was given for new housing developments.
The paper suggested the initial quotas first suggested in 2016 be imposed across Worcestershire, a demand rejected by members of Worcester City Council’s planning committee
Under the plans, flats with a communal parking area should offer one car space and one cycle space for a one bedroom flat and two car spaces and two cycle spaces for a two bedroom flat.
For houses, two car spaces and two cycle spaces should be offered for a one bedroom home with two and three bedroom homes giving space for two cars and four cycles.
Homes of four bedrooms and above should be built with space for as many as three cars and six cycle spaces according to the report.
City planning officials rejected the need for specific limits for every housing development and claimed local parking standards for residential developments should only be introduced where there was ‘clear and compelling’ justification it was needed to manage the road network.
The thumbs down provoked an angry response from Bedwardine Coun Alan Amos who questioned whether the council wanted local residents to park on streets or driveways.
“The city has chosen to do nothing and continue with parking chaos rather than adopt this first and only serious attempt to deal with it.
“County’s proposal is a serious attempt to deal with a major existing and growing problem in large areas of our city, namely parking congestion, which causes conflict amongst residents as they try to find somewhere just to park.
“Whether some like it or not, people are going to have cars.
“The choice is to do something about it or carry on with the short-sighted and irresponsible fantasy that by deliberately making inadequate parking provision, new and existing residents will somehow decide not to have cars.
“In Bedwardine, there are two large housing developments where it is already virtually impossible to find a parking space and where neighbours are now having arguments because the car parking provision was deliberately set too low to accommodate the cars they have.
“We can either accept people are going to own cars and make proper provision for them or have a policy deliberately designed to clog up our streets.”
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