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Planning Permission: Parking

Volume 498: debated on Wednesday 28 October 2009

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst of 5 February 2009, Official Report, column 1437W, on planning permission: parking, (1) what planning guidance on car park charges was in force prior to 2001; and when such guidance was issued; (294431)

(2) what guidance has been issued to regional planning bodies on policies on car parking charges in regional transport strategies.

Prior to 2001 paragraph 4.7 and 4.8 of the 1994 version of Planning Policy Guidance Note 13: Transport (PPG 13) provided planning advice on car parking charges. Paragraph 4.7 advised that:

“The level of car parking charges may also be used as an instrument to encourage the use of alternative modes.... Authorities should seek to agree appropriate levels and charges for parking broadly to maintain existing competitive positions between competing local centres... Income from parking charges can be used not only for providing off-street parking facilities, but also to support public transport and highway improvements....”

Paragraph 4.8 stated

“Parking charges.... Should not appear in development plans as policies (except in so far as the authority proposes to secure levels of charges.... through agreements) but they should be mentioned in the reasoned justification in support of the relevant land-use policies and proposals for the management of traffic.”

Planning Policy Statements (PPSs) and Planning Policy Guidance Notes (PPGs), which apply at the regional and local level, should be read as a suite of documents. Planning Policy Statement 11: Regional Spatial Strategies (PPS 11) contains advice on Regional Transport Strategies, which set the context for car parking standards and charges. Paragraph 35 of PPS 11 states,

“RPBs should have regard to the guidance in PPG13 in setting parking standards appropriate to their region or parts of the region.”