Object

Representation ID: 56609

Received: 23/11/2021

Respondent: South Cambridgeshire District Council

GAM9 Transport provision

Does the car parking element of the policy forming the second part of the policy add anything specific for Gamlingay? The Local Plan Policy TI/3: Parking Provision is design led.

Second part of the policy – How will a housing development provide ‘enough car parking’ …within the ‘development envelope’. Enough is not defined anywhere nor is the development envelope. Development should be providing car parking in accordance with the adopted standards unless the Neighbourhood Plan suggests otherwise through robust evidence.

There is no evidence or mention in the supporting text to support why level multi use surfaces should be avoided – is this a particular problem in Gamlingay? Context and number of units served should influence the road layout. Shared surfaces streets influence driver behaviour to reduce vehicular speed and improve road safety. We consider that, without supporting evidence, this is overly prescriptive.

We also have concerns about this part of the policy from a historic environment perspective. At present, it is framed very rigidly, and we are anxious that it might inadvertently lead to heavily engineered layouts in very small-scale developments, especially small plots leading off the village’s central streets. At present, such developments often do have shared surfaces, and the VDG identifies some developments with shared surfaces as being successful. We consider that this section should be more flexible to avoid unintentional harm to the historic character of the village