Developments like this one are typical in that they do not have corner shops, local cafes, or urban parks. There is little sense of place. With little to walk to and driving the natural choice for nearly every journey. You can see that behind the new homes are parking courts.
The new suburbs of Taunton are part of the Taunton Garden Town, and the area is expanding fast. However, the outer areas are being built around the car and a motorway junction has been given greater capacity to cope. The vision for the garden town looks great but delivery is another matter. Proposed bus based rapid transit seems not to have taken off. Away from cities, planning authorities often insist on a minimum number of car parking spaces per home. Two or three cars per home is not uncommon.
Housing developments on the outskirts of Weston-super- Mare were car based. The look and feel of this place was common to many other new areas of fringe of town housing seen in many other parts of England.
Chapelford Urban Village near Warrington is a large growing residential area. Those who visited described it as ‘car based’ despite a new station at Warrington West.
It is unclear why so much parking has been provided and the local centre is also dominated by parking. An enormous supermarket off a roundabout and completes the picture.
This development on the outskirts of Stockport was green and had obviously been inspired by the sort of housing in the outer areas of ‘Metroland’ in London. But what it lacked was the metro station and a parade of shops. As a result, it was ultimately car-based, although very pleasant for walking.
Green Park Village, Reading had a new station and some good areas including a lake. It was surprising to see parking still dominating the public realm. The development did, however, have a cafe and small supermarket and these must have been more viable by having new offices just nearby.
Again and again, we saw how parking had a profound effect on place-making. With the new government housing targets very high for rural areas, car-based areas like this are becoming more common on the edge of towns. Buses in such places are infrequent; two to three car parking spaces per home is not uncommon.
This is part of a new development on the outskirts of Aylesbury. New sections of the ring road have been built to support the extreme outer suburbs of the town, but traffic is building up.
Housing development in Cambridgeshire with easy access to the major road network.
