Issue - meetings

A report by Steve Clarke, Principal Planning Officer to consider whether the Kent County Council: Kent & Medway Structure Plan Supplementary Planning Guidance SPG4: Kent Vehicle Parking Standards: July 2006 and Kent Design Guide Review: Interim Guidance Note 3: Residential Parking: November 2008 should be adopted as interim parking standards for new development in the Borough.

Steve Clarke, Principal Planning Officer, Spatial Planning presented his report and explained the Council did not currently have a locally adopted parking standards policy for new developments in the Borough.  Parking provision for applications for new development was looked at on a site by site basis.

The intention was to develop a policy after the adoption of the Local Plan in 2017.  The policy would focus on encouraging the use of sustainable transport methods and adhere to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) standards.

As an interim measure it was proposed the Council adopt two documents as material considerations for development management purposes as parking standards for new developments across the Borough:

·  Kent County Council:  Kent and Medway Structure Plan Supplementary Planning Guidance SPG4: Kent Vehicle Parking Standards: July 2006;

·  Kent Design Guide Review: Interim Guidance Note 3: Residential Parking:  November 2008.

The Committee agreed the proposal was not perfect, but would be better than using a site by site, ad-hoc method.

Concern was raised regarding existing travel plan agreements and what checks were in place to ensure they were put in place after development take place.

Mr Jarman explained that monitoring regimes could be written into Section 106 agreements.

It was agreed that policy PPG3 V1 worked well in inner cities, but it was felt different places had different requirements.  It was necessary to have a parking policy in place that provided flexibility for particular development needs.

RESOLVED: That the Committee noted and welcomed the report and recommended the adoption of the interim parking standards presented to the Committee as a material consideration for Development Management purposes.