Report has found out that new greenfield housing still designed around cars
It says typical new 'greenfield' homes are designed around the car - with often three parking spaces per home.
Essential services such as shops, schools and doctors are often almost impossible to reach on foot or by bike.
The government planning department welcomed the report, agreeing new housing should depend less on cars.
The Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said last year: “Public transport and active travel (walking and cycling) will be the natural first choice for daily activities.
"We will use our cars less."
But the report from Transport for New Homes – backed by the RAC Foundation - says car dependency is actually getting worse.
Its researchers conducted field visits to 20 new housing developments across England – three years after a previous survey around the country.
They found that greenfield housing has become even more car-based than before. They say the trend for building with the car in mind extended beyond housing, with out-of-town retail, leisure, food outlets and employment orientated around new road systems.
They found that planners and construction firms are building in a style they refer to as ‘car-park to car-park’.
This is the opposite of Mr Shapps' stated wishes, they say. It's creating a sedentary lifestyle and isolation for new residents, as well as limited choices for people who don’t drive.
Despite plans for vibrant communities with local shops, leisure facilities and community services, the visions of developers have not materialised.
Equally, the excellent public transport promised was often not in place and in some cases had even been reduced.
They say that in practice, greenfield estates planned as ‘walkable vibrant communities’ were dominated by parking, driveways and roads with easy access to bypasses and major roads.
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