The Province of North Holland wants to accelerate housing projects to meet the high demand for homes. These projects can face delays due to high parking standards. The province is asking municipalities to reduce the number of required parking spaces for new construction.
Deputy Jelle Beemsterboer: “There is a lot of hard work being done in North Holland to build new homes. Many people are waiting for this. To ensure that we can build these homes as quickly as possible, we must constantly look at where things are getting stuck. Parking policy is one of the things municipalities can look at to prevent delays.”
Many municipalities still apply too high parking standards, resulting in valuable space being lost that is desperately needed for additional homes, green spaces, or play areas. The province is also asking municipalities to encourage shared transportation.
Tailored Parking Standards per Location
Municipalities set the parking standard based on CROW guidelines. Since CROW recently updated the guidelines, there is now room in many municipalities. The province is asking municipalities to use the recent CROW guidelines and apply tailored solutions per location. In the coming period, the province will draw attention to adjusting parking standards in discussions with municipalities. Additionally, the province has prepared a guideline for municipalities, which includes concrete tips for tailoring parking standards.
The guideline and the research report can be found here.
Encouraging Shared Transportation
Municipalities can encourage car-sharing more by incorporating standards that determine how many regular parking spaces can be replaced by shared cars and adding these to the plan. Depending on how urban the area is, this can mean replacing an average of 5 to 8 parking spaces according to CROW. It also helps to establish good walking and cycling connections and good public transport facilities in new constructions.
