Urban sprawl: figures from the Office for National Statistics show that one-third of households in Croydon do not own a car or van. Fewer than half of Croydon households – 43%, own a vehicle

A report from CPRE London published today says successive governments over the past half-century have actively enabled urban sprawl into the countryside.

Urban sprawl means building low-density housing outside of towns, on green fields, and far from shops, schools and surgeries. Developments are “car-dependent”, with little or no bus service. At the same time, more space in town centres is allocated for car parks.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England’s London branch says in its report that local and regional economies have suffered, as poor public transport means people can’t get to work or shops. People who are unable to own or drive a car have become isolated. “More car trips mean more pollution, carbon and poor health,” CPRE London says.

“And town centres have lost out to out-of-town retail and become unpleasant car-dominated places.”

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Alice Roberts, of CPRE London, said: “Despite the devastating impact of urban sprawl being well-known, we’ve been asleep at the wheel in terms of letting it happen. This has been the forgotten disaster of the last 50 years.

“But people are fed up. Bus services are gone. Productive agricultural land is being lost.

“And this is not a complex problem to solve. The vast amounts of land in towns given to car parking could instead be used for houses, shops, offices, schools, surgeries and more.

“Leeds has 200 hectares of car park, half of that is in the centre. Leicester has well over 100 hectares. Southampton, Fareham and Portsmouth have over 300 hectares. There’s over eight hectares in Bournemouth central alone, 80 hectares in Exeter, over 30 hectares in Newbury, Colchester over 60, Norwich over 90, Newcastle and Gateshead well over 100, Bristol 90…

“If these sites are used for development, instead of using countryside, residents don’t have to own a car, and people coming into town will be more likely to use the bus, reducing traffic and increasing fare income. Councils can use new bus franchising powers to improve bus services.

“If the council owns the car park, it can be used for much-needed social housing.

“It’s time we realised how much damage urban sprawl has done to this country over the past half-century and do something about it.”

• Read CPRE London’s report here: PARKING – a guide for Planners, Transport Planners and local campaigners
• Check the ONS mapping tool for vehicle ownership by local authority

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