In 2018, IFPC conducted two surveys for residents and businesses to let you have your say about our villages. Information that we have collected will be analysed to produce our community-led Neighbourhood Plan – our benchmark for future developments.
One of the key findings in both questionnaires was that our residents and local businesses are very concerned about the provision of parking for visitors, residents and employees commuting to Ingatestone and Fryerning.
We learnt that 75 per cent of employees use their own vehicle to travel to work. 44 per cent travel from outside a five-mile radius of their work place.
New sites for parking need to be identified and evaluated. Brentwood Borough Council is reviewing its existing garage sites for alternative use.
Two sites earmarked for development in the new Local Development Plan could be used to increase capacity, especially the site classified for ’employment and mixed use’ adjacent to the by-pass, part bounded by the Roman Road.
We have the opportunity in producing our Neighbourhood Plan, to develop a policy prescribing standards to be met by new housing developments. The 2011 Census identified 1.44 cars per household for the parish, which would seem to indicate two spaces per dwelling would be appropriate.
The parish council will need to review the suggestions submitted and produce a strategy for increasing available parking spaces for residents, visitors and employees and developing alternatives to car usage.
The South Essex Parking Partnership has recently concluded a study on the traffic flow which will inform this strategy.
More parking spaces in Bell Mead
The parish council has added 10 two-hour free public parking bays in Bell Mead.
In addition to the 12 bays outside The Lounge and the eight bays currently on the road leading to the surgery, there are now an additional eight bays opposite the surgery in front of the new development with a further four bays on the road at the entrance to the new development. They are all clearly marked with Brentwood Borough Council two-hour free parking signs.
