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Boardwalk :: Forum List The Phoenix Quarter Infrastructure

<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next > End >> Dea Campbell   Car Free Development - 2006/04/27 06:32 Dear Mr. Style I have posted the following in the general discussion forum but feel it rightly belongs in this section. I am worried that this discussion is not addressing the most pressing issue;the one that more than any other will affect life in Lewes if your proposed development goes ahead.Do we really need a traffic survey to tell us what 800 more cars will do to our town?Cars will clog the streets,and some of our loveliest streets will become rat runs:dangerous to walk along and unpleasant to live in.Attempts at routing the extra traffic are irrelevant-more traffic means more jams which means people doubling back and finding their way however they can through the town.I wonder why there has been no discussion about car free development,which has worked so well in Europe and in Scotland.The Phoenix site would be an ideal place for such a development,being close to all amenities,within a few minutes of a mainline railway station,and in the heart of a town with a reputation for being green,alternative and radical.At a time when governments are starting to cast around desperately for solutions to the problem of carbon emmissions,do you not agree that car- free is the future of housing development?   | | You must login if you wish to contribute to this forum. S.Oliver   Re:Car Free Development - 2006/04/27 07:11 A Car free devlopment would be wonderful and this would be an ideal site, but there are some enormous problems associated with this idea in Lewes. There is no parking permit restriction policy. If Phoenix was built, and was car free, every single occupant could buy a parking permit anyway, or own a car, and park their car in the surrounding Zones, or beyond. ESCC has already admitted that Zone B doesn't work. Parking permits for Baxters were restricted for the first 18 months, but after that there is no restriction. How do you deal with cars visiting restaurants, and the cinema within the developmnet, when the car parks are disappearing? It would be interesting to know what a solution could be. On another part of this site TRICS figures have been asked for to give us an idea of the potential traffic generated by a development of this size, but as of yet they have not appeared, giving us the impression that no one has done any yet.   | | You must login if you wish to contribute to this forum. charles style   Re:Car Free Development - 2006/04/27 09:39 A car free development here, though a nice idea is not I am afraid a realistic probability or possibility. We will be restricted by the East Sussex car parking standards to allowing only 75% of residents a car space. We will encourage people to either not own a car or to use it infrequently by car clubs, these are now up and running in other parts of the country including Brighton and are very effective, see www.streetcar.co.uk. I was talking to a friend recently who just gave up his car to use a car club and has found it is sufficiently flexible and also saves him money. We will also have sufficient bicycle parking spaces. However the idea that existing residents should be allowed a car and any new residents should not be seems rather unfair to new residents. Visitors to the commercial uses such as offices , restaurants and cinema will also be catered for, otherwise cars would have to be parked on the streets which would not work. We are also providing parking facilities which will be useful to all visitors to Lewes not just those visiting the development and they may otherwise have to circle the town looking for a space.Traffic flows arrive and depart at different times of the day, i.e shoppers tend to arrive later than commuters and people visiting cinemas and restaurants tend to arrive at night so the impacts are not as bad as you might think, also a lot of people living here will use public transport to go to work or they will live and work in the development. We are in the process of finalising our transport assessment which includes a TRICS model, I have seen a draft and have been told that the traffic generation is in fact manageable. This assessment is going to be tested against the town wide transport model which has been undertaken by East Sussex County Council. Once the testing is completed they will be able to advise of any other changes to the traffiic system which would improve the traffic flows in Lewes including new junction arrangements.   | | You must login if you wish to contribute to this forum. Dea Campbell   Re:Car Free Development - 2006/04/27 10:03 Dear S. Oliver, I'm glad you support the idea of car-free development in principle. I don't see where the 'enormous problems' associated with car-free development are. You say there is no parking permit restriction policy. Well what are the obstacles to getting a parking permit restriction policy, and how can it be done within the next five to ten years while the site is being developed? If it truly turns out to be impossible, car-free housing can be enforced in other ways, eg Glasgow City Council, which has a policy supporting car-free housing, produced a report in report in 2003 stating that: 'Residents of car free housing schemes would be self-selecting and aspire generally to live without a car. The title deeds/tenant's agreement to such property would restrict car parking.' The car free housing development at Slateford Green in Edinburgh is an example of what can be achieved. There is some car parking on the periphery, and the residents use the City Car Club, a joint venture by Edinburgh City Council and Budget Car Rental. I think Lewes needs a car park near the site anyway, as I believe this is preferable to the current situation, but let's think imaginatively about how this could look; one car free development in Germany has a car-park called the Solargarage and is covered with solar panels; another has a turf roof. Let's have a little vision about what we do want to see on the site. Mr. Style has not answered my query yet but I am not hopeful that he will draw up his proposal from scratch to make it car free. Perhaps he will prove me wrong. But if his development is turned down, that would be the time for residents and councillors to think to the future.   | | You must login if you wish to contribute to this forum. Dea Campbell   Re:Car Free Development - 2006/04/27 10:44 Dear Mr. Style, Our postings crossed, so thank you for your clarification that in your proposal, car-free development is not a a realistic probability or possibility. I appreciate your honesty. If anyone else is interested in the feasibility of car free development, I have prepared a report which examines some of the schemes already in place in Europe and Scotland, with a view to beginning a discussion about whether such a scheme could be implemented in Lewes on the Phoenix site.   | | You must login if you wish to contribute to this forum. Tony Cox   Re:Car Free Development - 2006/04/28 09:04 It seems that some far sighted developers are prepared to take car free development seriously. The following recently printed in the Big Issue The developer carrying out the £2 billion revamp of Kings Cross in London has vowed to play hide and seek with motorists' cars in a bid to get them using greener vehicles. Only 50% of households will be eligible for a parking space once the work is finished. Argent chief executive Roger Madelin said "Your car will be in the car storage facility, which will have lots of zero emission vehicles to hire. If you still insist on using your own car, it will be hidden in the furthest corner of the top floor and have a sticker on it saying 'Do you feel guilty?'. We will keep doing it until you change"   | | You must login if you wish to contribute to this forum.

Boardwalk :: Forum List The Phoenix Quarter Infrastructure

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