How can new developments consider traffic and parking in their design?
Jill Quilliam is a member of the team looking at transport, traffic and parking as part of our NDP. Here Jill looks ahead to the traffic and parking issues that will affect any new developments, and makes some suggestions
Looking ahead to 2030 – the life span of our Neighbourhood Development Plan – should we expect developers to consider wider roads with lay-bys, wide pavements and more parking spaces within our own parish estates?
Visit any new housing estate in a town and you’ll see wide roads, lay-bys and pavements broad enough for two pushchairs to pass. They don’t look Cornish at all but they are practical.
Thinking about our more rural area, with villages and smaller settlements, the features of roads serving new developments could be made to look Cornish, with sympathetic design and use of local materials, and they would be practical.
Looking forward to 2030, Mylor Parish either requires a daily, half hourly bus service for workers, youngsters, and all residents to use, or traffic must be catered for by developers.
The scale of developments has an effect on traffic needs and road safety. On a new estate of 20-30 houses, all will require parking and road access, plus room for delivery vans and service vehicles. Smaller sites still need access for these types of vehicles, as well as parking; few houses now have just one car; many have two or even three so as well as access and safety, we need to consider the layout so there is room for all to park.
Why so many cars? Well, it is not unusual now for at least two people in every household to commute to work, or one to commute and the other to need a car for local travel, taking the children to school and shopping. With scant bus services, multi-car households are inevitable. Imagine; if every house had two spaces for cars, and the wider estate road had lay-bys, parked traffic would not be an issue.
What is the answer to traffic in new housing developments? Let us know your ideas.
Developers must be made to include 2 car spaces per property at a minimum. Make the access roads wide enough for onstreet parking for guests and deliveries.
Developers should be made to pay for the county council to compulsory purchase sections of the roads into the Parish so they can be widened to allow 2 buses to pass. Where possible we need more footpaths and cycle routes.