Homes with no parking
From: S Thompson, Wadsley, Sheffield.
MOST of Sheffield Council’s decisions are not made not with safety or convenience in mind, but with regard to what money comes in from developers.
So for example, despite Government guidelines saying how much off-street parking must be assigned to new properties, it is rarely followed in the less affluent areas of the city, because developers want to make money and so build small houses with no off-street parking.
Sheffield is built on a number of hills with very steep narrow roads, so when a postage-stamp piece of land becomes available, on goes a pair of houses with no off-street parking and planners say ‘it’s on a bus route’.
If you live in a less affluent area of the city, you cannot possibly hold down a job like that of a district nurse for example, who needs a car for visiting patients or an electrician or plumber, and you certainly cannot have a job that isn’t accessible by public transport. This is discrimination.
Living in a less affluent area of the city, your safety doesn’t seem to matter, so roads with cars parked nose-to-tail mean service vehicles and large emergency vehicles can’t get to you.
So how do we help? Complain to the Government, your MP or councillor. It is possible to take out grass verges where it would help, and replace them with permeable surfaces so water can still be absorbed, and reduce the width of some footpaths.
We must never build houses without off-street parking, for our own safety. Many countries around the world have come up with ways of incorporating parking spaces into their homes and places of business. Our planners should study these.