references: Camden Council
contacts: Richard Finch (planning dept) - Joseph Whelan (oversees the development of no-car zones)

There now are some 60 no-car sites in Camden Town in which residents do not have garages and cannot apply for permission for residential parking and cannot be involved in any contracts for off-street parking. Many of these new sites are quite small being infill or brown field developments and the largest is four acres.
Camden's development plan policy has three criteria for sites to be eligible as a no-car zone:

1. The site has to be within a controlled parking zone
2. Adequate transport facilities must be available within easy reach of the site
3. Amenities such as shops and schools have to be within walking distance of the site.

If they meet these criteria, sites can be designated as car-free under the provisions of section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act. Developers are told that they can only receive planning permission if they accept the car-free zone conditions and this applies whether the site is owned privately or by the council.

Residents are restricted from applying for residential parking permits and council operated parking contract schemes by being listed as not eligible on the council computer system. There are no reports of any adverse consequences of this scheme. So far as can be determined, people who live on no-car sites accept the restrictions do not attempt to sidestep them.

Appendix B - The challenge from West Quay Shopping Centre - website

Romsey's town centre has so far survived the onslaught of supermarkets and out-of-town shopping centres and has maintained a balance with its three large neighbours. However, the balance between Romsey and its three large neighbours is a delicate one and may well be disturbed by the huge expansion in retail shopping in Southampton city centre at West Quay. Consider some of the facts:

1. Southampton city retail floor space will have increased by about a half when the West Quay centre is complete. The City Council reckons that the town will then be among the top twenty shopping locations in the UK.
2. The West Quay shopping centre will provide 80 high quality shops on 90,241sq m of retail space - about ten times the total area (9,569sq m ref x) of all Romsey's shops.
3. Marks and Spencer's new shop (9755sq m) will be larger than all Romsey's shops added together.
4. A feel for the scale of this development is given by the fact that it will have 4,980 spaces for parking cars - about half as many again as presently in Southampton city centre.