PPG13 prompts travel rethink

When the revised version of PPG13, a key plank of planning policy first launched by the Conservative government in 1995, is formalised later this year, one thing is certain. Restrictions on car parking for new facilities of all kinds are going to get even tighter.

A draft version of PPG13 – or, as it is known in full, Planning Policy Guidance Note 13 – was published at the end of last year. It contains maximum parking standards for new leisure, retail, office, health and education facilities. Justifying their introduction, the draft document says they have been designed 'to help reduce the car dependency of developments and promote sustainable transport choice'.

Now, some planning specialists are predicting that the revised version could introduce even tougher car parking restrictions than those contained in the original draft.

'The new regulations will be more draconian than we have seen before,' says Stuart Robinson, senior director of planning with surveying firm CB Hillier Parker. He believes the government will take the opportunity to tighten up on the measures contained in the draft, particularly the maximum number of car parking spaces allowed per square metre.

Under the draft revision, a typical office development, for example, would be allowed one space per 35m2, while a leisure development would get one space per 22-25m2.

Senior London partner and head of planning with GVA Grimley Stephen Robinson says the restrictions will be particularly bad news for out-of-town business parks, which traditionally lack the transport links of a city centre location.

'The whole concept of the business park is going to be under the cosh,' he says.

For companies looking to move to a new site or expand existing facilities, the creation of travel plans that offer alternatives to the car for getting to and from work are going to be the order of the day.

More and more local planning authorities are making it a requirement that businesses have a travel plan before they grant planning permission for new premises.

'As soon as a business puts in an application to the local authority, it will be asked if it has made allowances for a green transport plan,' says CB Hillier Parker's Robinson.

At a Birmingham conference on travel plans and PPG13 organised by transport pressure group TravelWise this month, Warwick District Council was due to tell delegates that it had started work on a travel plan 18 months before relocating earlier this year. As a planning council, it will be Warwick's responsibility to advise local businesses on the impact of the new PPG13 and to give guidance on setting up a green travel plan.

'As we are the planning authority, we need to be able to lead by example – we have to have our house in order,' says Liz Young, policy and projects officer at Warwick.

Under the travel plan, employees are being encouraged to cycle or walk, and the council is setting up links with other local businesses so that staff can share lifts to work. It is also in the process of establishing a database so that those who want to share a car journey can contact each other through the council intranet.

'The recent petrol crisis is an example of how people can pull together,' says Young. 'It was amazing the amount of people that were car sharing then.'

The council has now appointed a full-time co-ordinator to help develop the travel plan, which will be implemented in the next few months. The idea is to start small and then expand, taking in more and more of the council's departments and employees.

'The travel plan will eventually take in all our leisure centres, the theatre and our satellite centres,' says Young.

So far reaction from council employees to the idea of alternative transport arrangements has been mixed, admits Young. But she is optimistic. 'Things will not change overnight; it is about a lot of people making a bit of difference.'

Employees at Waitrose's headquarters in Bracknell have been treated to a free bike loan facility that allows them to try before they buy. The retailer is also working with organisations on the same business park to set up a cross-company car-share scheme, to cut back on parking on the estate. 'We are located on a busy industrial estate, alongside companies like Panasonic who all have a vested interest in formulating a travel plan,' says head of facilities John Bassett.

Other measures include providing a free link from Bracknell train and bus station at the key commuting times. In addition, a minibus transports staff from a local housing estate where many of them live.

The measures follow a survey of how employees were travelling to work. This found that, of 940 staff, more than 90 per cent were travelling to work by car and of those 79 per cent were solo commuters.

The alternative arrangements have raised a number of concerns – how to get children to school; whether the roads are safe enough for cycling; how to get home in an emergency; the unreliability of public transport. But, according to Bassett, staff are accepting that the company needs to take such action, even if it means life is going to get a little more uncomfortable.