to think that either there should be a limit to the number of cars kept at one address or that developers should be forced to plan adequate parking on new estates (another parking thread!!!)

[FeelingSoLucky]

DH and I have spent 7 years of racing to be the first home so we can both get parked due to having really inconsiderate neighbours who took up more than their fair share of space in a joint parking bay in front of both of our houses. Plenty of room to park the 4 cars we had between us but their parking was so bad, we could only fit 3 in.

They've now moved out, the house is empty and on the market so next door but one neighbours have now started parking there and today have blocked access to my drive. There are 5 adults in their house (mum, dad & three grown up kids/partners of kids... I don't know, they've never made any effort to speak to us in 7 years and I gave up years ago) who all have cars, meaning not only do they fill up their drive, they park on their front garden. So now they've decided they're going to take our parking space as well.

I know parking threads are boring but I'm home alone with a young baby and just needed to vent!! I will be speaking to them if the situation continues.

But it did get me thinking - with the amount of threads about parking problems that you see on here, it's obviously not just a problem where I live. So I was wondering, do people think there should be a cap on the amount of vehicles that can be kept at an adress? Or should developers of new estates be forced to build houses with adequate parking for the number of occupants that could possibly live in the house. A 5 bed roomed detached could easily house 5+ car owning adults yet there is never usually space for more than 2 cars.

We're looking to move house but we're being put off a number of new estates because cars are crammed onto every available bit of off road space or at the side of every road because houses are not given enough parking space.

Rant over... I'm off to make a cuppa!

At our old flat (new build) it was very clear that it was one space per flat, no commercial vehicles.

Fuckers.

After a couple of months the developers labelled the spaces. And still people parked like, erm, inconsiderate idiots.

There are limits on how many spaces developers can allow, because the government think that this will persuade people to buy bicycles instead. Some developments near me are zero-car. Like that's going to work!!

The house next door to us is two victorian terrace houses knocked into one to make a spacious two bed house.
It has recently been sold and the purchaser applied for planning to put it back to two houses with two bedrooms each - the planning has been denied because of parking issues!

It isn't just new-builds sadly.

The house opposite which has a MASSIVE long drive, only park one car on it. The rest of their four vehicles get parked anywhere because they "can't be bothered to swap cars around as they need them".

The house next door to that has no drive at all and has just been rented to three adults, each who have a car who insist on parking on our parking space (we have a drive which fits one car and we have another parking space that a number of years ago was created out of the house's land, so it is on our deeds etc). When I challenge them, show the deeds etc they just say "you can park anywhere on a public road".

People are inherently selfish when it comes to parking.

good luck! Our estate has a ban on work vehicles in the deeds to the house ...does it work? does it my big fat bum

they shouldn't block your drive way - but they can park on the road where they like - sorry

The new development in the town near me is absolutely shocking.

Obviously the planning department were in Pigs might fly, people will use the bus and be green mode.

I dread to think what will happen if there is a fire, no way could you get a serious sized fire engine into the flats in the middle. You cah scarcely drive an ordinary car through. People are parked on every single pavement and every inch of service road.

fleta - if your space is on your land, fit a collapsible bollard.

fleta - you need one of these

Maybe a penguin bollard?

If it is on your deeds you need to do something to make that perfectly clear or, as they say, it is just the road and they can park on it.

Penguins are good!

housing developments that have been built in the last few years in my borough don't allow residents parking at all and people are informed when they move in that if they apply for a space they will be declined. There is a streetcar available for their use.

Damn, too slow! :)

There is a house on our road (exactly the same as ours) that has 5 adults and three children. Between them they have 13 cars! Drives everyone insane as they can only get 2 on their drive. Should be a law against it!

I thought there were limits on how few spaces were allowed per new house in many areas but it is dependent on the authority.

I think that round here planning demands a two bed to have at least one space. And bizarrely new build three beds need planning for one and a half spaces. (Do not ask me how that works).

We deliberately bought a 2 bed property which had off road parking for two cars as thats what we needed. It was one of our priorities in a house. There are similar houses on the same estate nearby with only one space. The difference in price was significant. This is the problem - space for parking means less properties can be built, so the cost of parking is expensive as it inevitably then ends up being passed onto buyers. Of course the drive for cheap affordably houses for first time buyers means that there are fewer builders who are willing to plan more parking simply because it pushes housing beyond the budget of the very people they are supposed to be building for. Politically, I'm not sure that any political party would be willing to reduce the number of cheap houses available for the sake of parking because there is such a shortage already.

At the higher end of the market, you have a situation where 5 bed properties are bought to be the family home - therefore when the children are younger - so the need for more parking isn't there. And even then, buying the family property is done at a stretch so paying extra for an additional parking space is not something people want to pay for (as they obviously don't have a need when they buy the property).

As for restricting the number of cars you are allowed per property, I can't see how that its going to help. Restricting the number of cars you are allowed, may restrict the work, owners can find which is not good economically. In cases where there are grown up children, they may need the car to get to work and be struggling to save enough to buy their own property (and get their own car parking spaces) as it is. It just makes the problems of getting on the property ladder even more complex and difficult.

And none of that solves the issue over the lack of cheap reliable public transport in the first place, which means cars are cheaper or the only real option anyway. You can't force people out of their cars, if there isn't a viable alternative instead.

:D I would love a bollard. I think what we're actually planning to do is get permission to enlarge our drive into the front garden, make the garden wall smaller (the space is outside the garden wall which adds to further confusion!) and get rid of the space but have a double drive.

This was started by the labour government, the limiting of parking spaces per house.

Nomama - we can't actually fence the space off. Its a crazy arrangement. In essence when they change to have a parking space, they moved the garden wall back so they have an enclosed front garden but still own the space outside. There isn't space to put a boundary and still have space for a vehicle between the boundary and the garden wall.

We are in a very small cul-de-sac and next door has a caravan, 4 cars, trailer, motorbike and works small van!

We all have drives, but he takes up every spare space inside and outside the cul-de-sac.

But we don't own the public parking spaces so its tough.

Do you own your space? If not, it's first come first served.

Replies above mentioned the planning issue, but there is another one too.

When developers buy a parcel of land, they want to fit in as many houses as possible to maximise their profit. To their minds, car parking spaces are a waste of space that could be used for building.

Sorry toothbrush. Missed your post that already covered this point.

Ask your council what you can do and how they could help.

If the land is yours you should protect it and restrict its use.

You never know, there might be a simple solution.

A lot of what people are saying makes sense regarding trying to encourage people to use public transport and keeping the cost of housing down. People do need cars to get to work and where we live, the public transport is pretty poor. A 25 min drive to my place of work would take over 2 hours by public transport (not that the buses start early enough for this to be an option) and DH has a 40 mile round trip in the opposite direction so it's not as though we can car share.

I think if people were just a bit more considerate about how they park, my blood wouldn't boil so much! To the PP whose neighbours have 13 cars.... I think that might just tip me over the edge!

I live in a new estate, we have space for 2 cars on our drive and after lots of arguments with the builders we have 2 spaces (shared with our neighbour) opposite out drive, it more a turning circle as it was hard to get a big car in and out of our driveways.

But yanbu parking is a nightmare. The developers helpfully told us we should park a car in our garage so there is space on our drive for visitors... I haven't met many people who do this.

RedToothBrush has said it all really, but we have a similar problem on our road. We all have parking for 2 cars, and it just so happens that all the families with older car owning children and work vehicles happen to live close together on this road.

It's public, so people can and do park where there's space. Usually as close as possible to their own home. My family is one of the culprits, so we aren't bothered by other people's vehicles, but I expect some of the other residents get annoyed with it. There's nothing that can be done though, everyone parks legally and considerately enough, so I think people should just get on with it.