Minimum Vehicular Access Width for 35 Flats

[Pang Chere]

c.35 flats (no parking) are proposed to be built on empty plot of land surrounded on all sides by other houses. Proposed entranceway will be created by demolishing a single existing house whose drive connects to a main road.

The new entranceway, for about 20 metres, will be quite narrow - although dead straight.

I am concerned that it may not meet minimum vehicular access widths- especially as there may be boundary disputes as it moves through gardens of the houses on the sides of the one demolished.

As there is no parking, the entranceway could presumably be one way, and the widest vehicles requiring entrance would be fire engines and dustcarts.

Could anyone please advise - or point me to an official source - which advises what the minimum width for vehicular access would be for this number of residences?

Many Thanks!

 

[Notch7]

I seem to remember there is a minimum width set by building regs, part B for fire engine access. 3.7m from memory

 

[Pang Chere]

Thanks. Yes, 3.7m does seem to a figure I have seen. However, I wondered whether a larger number of residences - in this case 35 - would require more?

 

[bernardgreen]

Ask the fire brigade what appliances they would send for a worse case fire in the new building(s). Allocate width and area to suit that requirement

 

[big-all]

how many parking spaces ??
that will be the maximum number off vehicles expected
assuming 35 vehicles and every car does a round trip between 0800 and 20.00 thats one vehicle on average every 10 mins or 3 an hour in each direction on average

 

[Leofric]

Where I live the local authority has a highway design guide which gives road and footway widths or shared access widths for different sorts of estate layouts and adopted roads. I would suggest contacting the highways department of your local council .
p.s. do you anticipate obtaining planning permission for 35 flats without any provision for car parking ? Just a thought.

 

[Pang Chere]

Thanks all for these very helpful answers. It is not me doing the proposal- it is an external developer undertaking a scheme I think highly dubious. There will not be any parking apparently- this is a densely populated city area, and the sole entrance to the 35 flat development will be this narrow lane which will be right up against the 3.7 metre limit (if that is indeed the minimum).

That in itself may be a problem- in the event of fire the only evacuation point will be the narrow road where the fire engine must pass to enter.

 

[big-all]

in general unless it pensioner acomodation with out exception it will tend to be 1 parking bay per bed room

 

[Nakajo]

It's obviously meaningless to divide the number of parking spaces by the length of a day, and the number of spaces required depends entirely on local policy, and something called 'ptal'. No doubt there are flaws in this development, but I suspect that the width of the accessway will not be the dealbreaker you hope it to be.

 

[^woody^]

Council planning and highways policy will be the deciding factors, not building regulations.

 

[lt8480]

It's nothing to do with number of flats its based on how the "road" is used.

Highways will only be concerned based on number and types of vehicles using the road. If its a car free development this will basically only be used by bike, taxis and emergency services. In which case the width required by a fire engine will be the determining factor. Although if this is an issue they could resolve fire access if other ways.

in general unless it pensioner accomodation with out exception it will tend to be 1 parking bay per bed room

Most of central London is now car free development and no parking is the general policy that is adopted. Proposing car parking spaces would actually be against policy and likely result in a refusal.

 

[Tigercubrider]

Yes
A block of 850 flats near me will have 60 spaces if it goes ahead

 

[^woody^]

Yes
A block of 850 flats near me will have 60 spaces if it goes ahead

LOL