District Council helping to build greener homes

The recently adopted ‘Residential Parking Standards’ Supplementary Planning Document provides developers and applicants with guidance when drawing up plans and applying for planning permission for new homes.

The standards hope to provide high-quality, attractive, well-designed places to live with safe, convenient and useable parking provision.

The standards state that as a starting point, electric vehicle charging capabilities will be sought for every housing development going forward. To meet the standards each new home will now need to provide at least one fast charge socket connect with a 32 amp radial circuit.

These standards were introduced months ahead of the Government’s decision this November to introduce the Electric Vehicle Home Charge scheme across the UK which will require all new build homes to provide electric vehicle charging points from next year .

Also in the document, there are recommendations to encourage cycling. Every residential development is encouraged to provide secure and undercover long term cycle parking in accordance to the recommendations outlined in the document.

To improve parking in developments, developers are asked to provide an adequate amount of safe parking which is appropriate to scale, location and character of the development.

Leader of Newark and Sherwood District Council, David Lloyd, said: “It’s vital that new developments take into consideration the ability for new homeowners to have electrical charging capabilities as more of us switch to electric cars.

“These standards, full of green conditions for new developments, should be taken into consideration and it will help us to meet our target of being carbon neutral by 2035, 15 years ahead of the government’s target.

 “We wanted to have a clear and transparent approach about this plan and that’s why we asked residents to feedback on the document.”

The standards went out public consultation and significant changes were made thanks to feedback back received in March 2021, including the introduction of a zonal approach to the district, which determines how much parking new developments will be expected to provide in each location.

This is meant to better reflect local circumstances and strike the right balance between providing appropriate levels of car parking spaces, while also promoting sustainable transport in areas with good public transport accessibility.

It also hopes to encourage more cycling opportunities for short-distance trips to improve the health and well-being of residents, air quality and reduce fuel emissions and energy consumption.

The adopted Supplementary Planning Document can be found on the Residential cycle and car parking standards SPD page of the District Council's website.