Birmingham Parking Standards Evidence Base and Review
The city wished to promote standards that would support its aspirations to develop less car-oriented development and use, but to balance this with existing car use and reliance. We developed a decision-tree to allocate areas into zones. This allocation was developed from the National Planning Policy Framework guidelines and referred to accessibility to the local population, public transport provision, on-street controls and designation as a local centre.
For each zone, standards were developed for each land use category to control parking in key centres but recognise locations where more restrictive standards would result in overspill and significant on-street parking conflict.
Engagement and Review
The study included significant engagement with development control officers to determine the current difficulties and conflicts arising when applying the current standards. A national review of parking standards and zoning was also undertaken to benchmark and provide evidential support for Birmingham’s approach.
Birmingham Parking Supplementary Planning Document (SPD)
The revised parking standards have been included in the SPD put out for consultation at the beginning of 2020.
