What future for the car? And how might this impact on future developments?

Wherever there is development the car will be sure to follow. How we accommodate the many cars on our roads and the impact that they have on our environment is a challenge that we all face. Our approach to the car is rapidly changing. Developers and planners need to keep up. More electric vehicles will mean more charging points. This in turn will alter the way in which housing developers plan their sites.

The Government wants to be seen as leading the way in the car revolution. Another week has gone by and another Government announcement on their desire to be world leaders in the electric and automated vehicle sector has been made. To be fair they are making some positive moves in this area. The “Road to Zero” strategy in July 2018, set out the Government’s vision for a greener, healthier United Kingdom. Here the Government pledged large grants for further research into battery technology; increased commitment to work more with the car industry to set an ambitious target for more ultra-low emission vehicles; as well as more investment into on-street Electric Vehicle charge points. In the pursuit for improved air quality some selected local authorities will now be able to benefit from Government grants of up to £6 million worth of funding to install over 300 charge points for electric taxis. Taxis being of course some of the most polluting vehicles on our roads.  The cities already lined up at the taxi rank to benefit from these new grants include Greater Manchester, Leicester and Brighton.

This will certainly result in new development parameters that will require residential developers to provide contributions towards this infrastructure in order to gain approval from councillors and planning officers. Whilst many developers already make provisions to include on-street vehicle chargepoints within their schemes, the resulting emphasis on reducing the ownership of diesel and petrol vehicles may mean a move away from traditional off-street parking spaces and towards greater access to on-street chargepoints. An increase in output of electrical charging points will result in an increase in development costs in the short run, but as government led investment increases, grant funding may become available for the schemes that provide the greatest level of available infrastructure. Designing in the future of the car and of transport overall is something we will be watching closely – please get in touch for further insight on what the coming changes might mean for you.