The Research and Policy Organisation, Transport for New Homes, has published a new report, 'Building Car Dependency', that recommends that new homes should only be built around sustainable transport options.
Their research has found that building housing on greenfield lands, where transport is often dependent on cars, adds “hundreds of thousands” of new car journeys to roads, which in turn increases congestion, carbon emissions and air pollution.
20 new housing developments across England were considered in their study where they found that a “typical greenfield development is designed in every way around the car”. Most of the sites they looked at saw residents using their cars as the main option for nearly every journey.
This latest report follows a 2018 report based on visits to housing developments, and followed up on some of these developments visited previously. They found that new estates built on these greenfield sites were more car dependent now than before, with leisure, food outlets and employment oriented around new roads.
Such a 'car park to car park' approach, puts people at risk of a sedentary lifestyle, isolating new residents, and restricting choices for people who don’t drive.
In contrast of this, developments on brownfield land in cities tended to be less car oriented which allows for better access to local amenities, either by foot, bike or public transport.
They have recommended that the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) should be redrafted so new homes are only built around sustainable transport options to avoid such issues. Building new homes on smaller brownfield sites would give residents access to local amenities, which would guarantee a walkable community and consequently healthier and more sociable living.
Project co-ordinator at Transport for New Homes, Jenny Raggett, commented: "Building many hundreds of thousands of new homes in places which are not only impossible to serve with sustainable transport, but actually promote more and more travel by car. At a time of climate emergency and with a need to cut congestion on our roads, this is not the way we should be building for the future. We have to draw the line and do things differently."
"Transport and planning shape the way we live. Despite our planners hoping for ‘vibrant places’ where people have many opportunities to interact in real life, the reality seems very different. Small shops, cafés and businesses built for local living are just not there in most new greenfield estates. Local parks, community halls, playing fields and other amenities that would take people away from looking at their screens and encourage them to get out and walk or cycle, appear often not to have materialised. Good public transport often remains aspirational with cuts to services looming. For people who cannot afford a car or cannot drive, they are essentially stuck. This cannot be a healthy vision for how people will live in the future."
