NEWS
NATIONAL
LIVING IN A CONCRETE JUNGLE
SQUEEZE ON SPACE AS PARKING SPOTS SHRINK
It’s official – there is less room for
motorists to park these days. While many working in the parking industry would no doubt be aware that space is increasingly at a
premium, the facts and figures have come into sharp focus following a study into on-street parking, driveways and domestic garages. According to insurers
LV, the amount of space available for motorists to park near their homes has shrunk by nearly 10 per cent in a decade, with the added difficulty that the average car has increased in size by four
per cent.
The squeeze has also resulted in an increase in the cost of residential permits – as well as waiting lists. The insurance company’s figures reveal that the worst problems are in inner cities. In Westminster, the average space has shrunk by more than 21 per cent in the last 10 years, to 4.33 metres per car. There have been steep rises in the cost of parking for residents – permits now cost an average of £96 a year, with reports of annual fees approaching £1,000 a year in some
parts of Birmingham. The sale of residents’ parking permits raised £48 million in the UK. LV managing director
John O’Roarke said: ‘Motorists are becoming increasingly squeezed when it comes to parking, and in some areas the average space available is only a few centimetres longer than the average car. ‘When space is
particularly tight, drivers must take greater care when parking to avoid damaging their own car or those around them and risking expensive repairs or a claim against them.’
AIRPORT FEES CONTINUE TO SOAR
The cost of parking has long been a bone of contention for holidaymakers – but prices have now increased so much that, at many airports, it is now cheaper to park a plane than a car. According to a survey in The Independent newspaper, it costs £35 for a full day’s parking at Manchester Airport – whereas a six-seater aircraft would cost £21 for the same amount of time. At Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport the gap is even wider – £40 for a car for 24 hours, compared to
8 AUGUST 2012
just over £10 for a light aircraft, with a similar price difference at Edinburgh, Glasgow and Birmingham airports. Russell Craig, of Manchester Airport, told the newspaper that travellers need to consider booking their parking in advance. ‘Years ago, airports made all their money from the planes. Now at Manchester, aviation income makes up less than half our incomes. Drivers will probably look enviously at parked aircraft wondering just how it can be that motorists pay more.’
www.britishparking.co.uk
Seven million front gardens have been concreted over to provide parking for cars, according to figures released by the RAC Foundation. The rise in the number of vehicles and the shortage of parking spaces means millions of front gardens have been paved over to make room for cars.
Figures analysed by the RAC Foundation show that around 80 per cent of Britain’s 26 million dwellings were built with a front plot, but almost a third of these plots have been turned into hardstanding areas. This means that seven million front gardens now contain concrete and cars rather than flowers
and grass – an area roughly equivalent to 100 Hyde Parks or 72 Olympic parks. Houses built
between 1919 and 1964 are most likely to have a front
garden, and it is these properties that are most likely to have seen the change. Even where properties have garages, these are increasingly being used to store things other than vehicles, or converted into extra accommodation; a third fewer cars are put away in a garage than a decade ago. The move to find extra parking space has resulted from the huge rise in car ownership. In 1950, there were two million cars – in 2011, there were 28.5 million.
Andrei Nekrassov /
shutterstock.com
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