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| Background In the UK and across the World, relentlessly rising congestion levels have been impacting on the quality of life, especially in large urban centres like London. carfree Developments are a direct and innovative response to the challenge of a sustainable transport future. Often designed in conjunction with other congestion reducing measures (e.g. car clubs, lift share schemes etc) carfree housing developments have recently increased substantially and come in a variety of configurations. Local authorities and other planning bodies are directly contributing to this process through a range of incentives to developers. These include use of section 106 planning legislation. This facilitates granting of planning consent when new developments include carfree or low car provision. This website is an outline guide to some of these developments in the capital. Wherever possible all entries include links to relevant contacts and further information. Please also see the ‘news’ section for latest information, new initiatives etc. Please also if you have any comments, information or news to contribute or would like to exchange links, do contact us. Travel Plans It is estimated that over more than 50% of UK commuters make their journey to work by car and that the average distance traveled is 8 miles. Travel plans are a complimentary measure to carfree developments, so much so that we have included a sample travel survey and will be adding other details to the site in the near future. Workplace travel plans aim to change the way people travel to work. This is done by measuring and then assessing current travel patterns and then introducing a range of measures and facilities to encourage and enable employees to change. Example actions would be; provide secure bicycle storage and changing facilities for cyclists, arrange a matching service to enable drivers to easily share, provide discounts for using public transport. Check out our travel survey here. Below are some extracts and definiitions from a typical Section 106 (S106) agreement. These are often the basis by which local authorities grant planning permission on the provision that the new development is carfree (or low-car). Use of S106 agreements is increasing, especially in urban areas. CarFree Agreements – Section 106 Definitions In the agreement the following phrases are defined to ensure that the agreement gives a clear understanding as to what is meant by a residents parking bay and permit.
CarFree Below is the wording used for carfree agreements showing the two clauses. The first shows the extent of the carfree agreement – no residents permit, no parking in a residents bay or council owned car park; it also shows that it is the responsibility of the owner/lessee to inform new residents of the carfree agreement. The second clause identifies that the agreement will remain permanently. Where private off street parking is provided exactly the same agreement is used preventing all users from having a residential permit, the developer then decides himself whom to allocate the private off street spaces to. But no one is entitled to a resident permit. In some instances a property will be part carfree, some units will be allowed a residents permit. This happens mainly when a conversion happens and an existing unit is split into two or more properties, in some cases the existing dwelling will be allowed to keep its resident permit status and the new flats given carfree status. The agreement below shows an additional clause to the carfree clause that allows this to occur. Plans have to be submitted that show exactly which units will be allowed a permit.
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