Planning & Design Practice have secured planning permission for a coach and car park in the North Riverside area of the city of Derby. The new coach parking provides a facility for visitors to the city to enjoy the thriving cultural scene in Derby, with organised coach trips to theatre visits and other events. As part of the development a welfare/facilities building will be provided on the site for coach drivers, creating a more attractive and convenient offering at this cathedral quarter location. In proposing these much needed facilities for the city, the application had support from Derby City Council’s Tourism, Leisure and Culture department.
Spaces for 150 cars are shown on the plans, along with Bicycle racks and 8 Electric Vehicle charging points to meet the growing level of electric vehicle ownership and encourage the use of more sustainable modes of transport. Trees on the perimeter of the site will be unaffected by the proposals, and pedestrian access points are provided on key desire lines for leaving the site on foot.
In proving the acceptability of the proposed car park, we worked closely with Bancroft Consulting to undertake traffic surveys at key road junctions in order to produce evidence that the car park use will not have any significant impact on highway safety. Swept path analysis was also required to demonstrate that large vehicles such as coaches could safely enter, turn, and leave the site.
A flood risk assessment also had to submitted to support the application, taking into account the City’s longer term plans for “Our City, Our River” and changes to flood defence strategies for the north riverside area.
The car park development will provide city centre parking largely on a permit holder basis for workers at several nearby city centre offices, but also with spare capacity for visitors. A Car Park attendant’s booth is proposed at one end of the facilities building near to the entrance.
Planning & Design Practice made several alterations to the initial proposals to overcome technical problems as they arose, eventually achieving the desired approval for our client.