Off road parking onto A road

Section62

lookbook said:

Councils don't give planning permission on A roads for the reasons you mentioned. Are you sure the planning permission was granted for the houses that have the parking?  Or did they just unofficially get the parking? 

Councils do give planning consent for vehicle access onto 'A' roads, but as with all applications they will judge each one on its own merits and since 'A' roads tend to be busier/faster it is relatively harder to get consent compared to lower classified roads.

user1977 said:

Others may be able to point to more specific guidance but I doubt there is any blanket policy for A-roads, given many of them are relatively quiet rural backwaters where a driveway isn't going to be a problem.

As above, if parking is already a problem then adding a new driveway is only going to make matters worse if you're eliminating a potential space on the road.

There's no national policy, so the policy is for each council to decide (both in planning and in highway terms). In fact it may be unlawful for a council to have a blanket policy.

Given Bristol's overall approach to motorised transport I'd expect them to be less than enthusiastic about encouraging/enabling car ownership by paving over front gardens, regardless of the other issues such as safety.

Brie

We used to have a lovely house but the real thorn was the on street parking.  It meant sometimes having to park a distance from the house and even sometimes not having any parking within an easy walking distance.  we had a football stadium nearby so game days were horrendous.  

This may not be a huge problem where you are looking (I haven't tried to google it) but do have a good look at what things are like various times of day and on the weekends.  Also - is it a commuter rat run which will cause more problems with parking or road safety?  What's the potential for the use changing - street parking being restricted etc?

Louviolet11

Section62 said:

lookbook said:

Councils don't give planning permission on A roads for the reasons you mentioned. Are you sure the planning permission was granted for the houses that have the parking?  Or did they just unofficially get the parking? 

Councils do give planning consent for vehicle access onto 'A' roads, but as with all applications they will judge each one on its own merits and since 'A' roads tend to be busier/faster it is relatively harder to get consent compared to lower classified roads.

user1977 said:

Others may be able to point to more specific guidance but I doubt there is any blanket policy for A-roads, given many of them are relatively quiet rural backwaters where a driveway isn't going to be a problem.

As above, if parking is already a problem then adding a new driveway is only going to make matters worse if you're eliminating a potential space on the road.

There's no national policy, so the policy is for each council to decide (both in planning and in highway terms). In fact it may be unlawful for a council to have a blanket policy.

Given Bristol's overall approach to motorised transport I'd expect them to be less than enthusiastic about encouraging/enabling car ownership by paving over front gardens, regardless of the other issues such as safety.

Interesting, thank you!

We were largely hoping for off street to enable us to have an electric/hybrid vehicle in the future easier than if we had to wait for more accessable off road charging. Front garden is also already paved and is really quite ugly so hopefully that won't put them off!

Albermarle

There is lay-by parking for the houses on the road but this house does have allocated 'disabled' out the front from the previous owner which obvs won't be used if we move in.

In case you are not aware, anybody can park in a disabled space marked out on a public road. In other words a space marked out as a disabled space is not legally enforceable.
The hope is that people do not park in them, and most will not.
In theory now the person it is allocated to is no longer there, the council should come and remove the markings, but I guess they will not.

Section62

Albermarle said:

There is lay-by parking for the houses on the road but this house does have allocated 'disabled' out the front from the previous owner which obvs won't be used if we move in.

In case you are not aware, anybody can park in a disabled space marked out on a public road. In other words a space marked out as a disabled space is not legally enforceable.
The hope is that people do not park in them, and most will not.
In theory now the person it is allocated to is no longer there, the council should come and remove the markings, but I guess they will not.

The BiB is only half right.

If a disabled parking space is backed up by a traffic order and the correct signage then it is legally enforceable (usually at the higher penalty level).  Anyone with a valid Blue Badge* (or who meets any exemptions specified in the order) can legally park in the space, but enforcement action may be taken against anyone else.  (*in some areas e.g. Central London) there are other schemes for disabled parking with different badge colours)

However, some councils (usually unlawfully) mark disabled bays on the carriageway without a traffic order and/or without the 'vertical' sign.  These bays cannot be legally enforced, and generally the council will have painted the marking on the road unlawfully as the marking cannot be used without the sign and traffic order.

On the street the OP is looking at the two bays don't appear to have signage - so probably cannot be legally enforced, but whether there is a traffic order would also need to be checked.

As an aside, the carriageway is marked with double yellow lines, and as most of the layby doesn't have bays marked then it is probably unlawful to park/wait in the layby, regardless of the disabled bays.