The Transport Statement states that to comply with Planning Policy a maximum of 67 additional spaces should be provided as part of the application. It is stated that 60 additional overspill spaces are provided as part of the application. This cannot in any way comply with the Council’s stated Planning Policy and defining these spaces as “overspill” should not mean that these are dealt with differently to a normal car parking space. By allowing these overspill car parking spaces, this will mean it is still a breach of the Policy which states that 67 additional spaces is a MAXIMUM. In total 127 spaces are proposed as part of this application and within the original submission pack the applicant themselves referred to this as “a vast number of car parking spaces”. This does not comply with Planning Policy and on this basis the proposal is unacceptable and should be refused.
Despite proposing to increase the car parking spaces from 198 existing to 325 proposed, the application still maintains that a single point of access off Princess Parkway is sufficient for this number of cars, potentially all arriving at the same time. In reality this number of cars would not only cause congestion within the car park but also cause cars to queue along the main road waiting to access the site. A single point of access is insufficient for managing a car park of this size and a full Traffic Impact Assessment should be carried out if it is anticipated that this number of cars, plus drop off coaches will be accessing the site at any one time.
On this basis the proposal is unacceptable and should be refused.