Accessible and motorcycle parking in a new scheme

Accessible parking is not a standard bay with a symbol painted on it. A designated bay is 2.4m wide by 4.8m long with a 1.2m access zone on each side and at the rear, which gives an effective footprint of 4.8m by 6.0m for a single bay and lets two adjacent bays share one side zone. Get that dimension wrong at concept stage and the layout has to be redrawn, because the space cannot be found later.

Motorcycle provision is smaller and easier, and it is the one most schemes forget entirely until the highway officer asks.

Provision rates come from local standards

There is no single national number. Approved Document M points to BS 8300 for buildings other than dwellings, and the figures commonly applied are one space for each disabled employee plus a percentage of total capacity for visitors, with a higher percentage for shopping, recreation and leisure uses than for workplaces.

For residential schemes the requirement usually comes from the local plan or a parking standards supplementary planning document. In London the spatial strategy requires a proportion of dwellings to have a designated bay from the outset, with a further tranche capable of being provided on demand, and several authorities outside London have adopted similar wording.

So the first job on any scheme is to read the adopted standard rather than apply a remembered figure. Then check whether the standard is expressed as a percentage of dwellings, of parking spaces or of floorspace, because those three produce very different answers on the same site.

Bay dimensions and the transfer zone

Two adjacent bays can share a single 1.2m zone between them, which is how a row of designated bays is usually set out. What they cannot share is a circulation aisle: the access zone has to be hatched and kept clear of the manoeuvring space vehicles use.

Height clearance is the detail forgotten in multi-storey and undercroft parking. A wheelchair accessible vehicle with a raised roof needs more headroom than a standard car park provides, and a scheme that puts all its designated bays under a 2.1m soffit has provided nothing usable.

Location relative to entrances and lifts

Designated bays go as close as possible to the accessible entrance, with BS 8300 pointing to a maximum of around 50 metres on a level route. The route has to be firm, level or gently graded, free of steps, and lit.

Practical points that decide whether the provision works:

• Put bays on the same level as the entrance where possible, rather than relying on a lift as the only route.
• Where a lift is unavoidable, place bays within sight of it and provide a second means of escape route that is usable.
• Avoid routing the accessible path behind parked cars reversing out.
• Provide a dropped kerb with tactile paving where the route crosses a carriageway, flush at the crossing point.
• Keep the gradient of the bay itself as close to level as drainage permits, because a sloping bay makes transfer unsafe.

The Design and Access Statement is where all of this is demonstrated, with a drawing rather than a paragraph. Officers and access groups read that section closely, and a statement that asserts compliance without a plan gets a holding objection.

Surfacing, marking and enforcement

Bays need a firm bound surface. Gravel and grasscrete do not work for wheelchair transfer, whatever they do for the drainage strategy.

Mark the bay and the access zones distinctly, with the wheelchair symbol to the standard dimensions, and sign each bay with an upright sign as well as a surface marking, because surface markings disappear under a parked car and under snow.

Enforcement differs by land status. On adopted highway, bays are enforceable through a traffic regulation order. Off street, enforcement depends on the landowner or a management company and whatever contractual regime is in place. A scheme that relies on enforcement it has not set up will find the bays occupied by anyone. Where residents are to be excluded from on-street permits, the mechanism is an obligation, as described in car-free and permit-free development secured by agreement.

An illustrative example

Illustrative only: a 40 flat development with 24 parking spaces in an undercroft. The local standard requires designated bays for 10 per cent of dwellings, four bays, with two provided from the outset.

The first layout put all four in a corner behind a structural column, with a 2.1m soffit and the only route to the core via a ramp at 1:12. The revised layout moved two bays to the surface level next to the entrance, raised the undercroft soffit locally over the remaining two, and converted a standard bay to a motorcycle area with ground anchors near the pedestrian exit.

Nothing was added to the site area. The provision simply had to be designed rather than allocated.

Motorcycle and powered two wheeler provision

Rates are set locally, usually as a proportion of car parking, and the dimensions are modest: a bay of roughly 2.0m by 1.0m with room to manoeuvre in and out without crossing a pedestrian route.

What makes the provision actually used:

1. Ground anchors or a security rail, because theft is the main deterrent to motorcycle use.
2. Cover, where the site allows it, even a modest canopy.
3. A position near the pedestrian entrance rather than at the far end of the car park.
4. Surfacing that takes a side stand, which rules out loose gravel and soft asphalt in summer.

Cycle and motorcycle provision are distinct. Do not present a combined figure and hope nobody separates them, because the highway officer will.

Future proofing and the charging overlap

Standards increasingly require bays capable of conversion, so leave the structural and drainage conditions in place for the tranche provided on demand rather than only marking them on a drawing. That means the surfacing, levels and route are already right, and the later work is marking and signing.

Electric vehicle charging interacts here. A charge point installed at the edge of a designated bay can obstruct the transfer zone, and cable management has to keep the access zone clear. Design the two together rather than letting the charging layout arrive after the accessibility layout.

Where an equalities duty is engaged, a public authority has to have due regard to it under the Equality Act 2010, and an Equalities Impact Assessment can be the document that records how access has been considered. For the parking numbers themselves, evidence from a Parking Survey and the narrative in a Transport Statement carry the case.

This is general guidance, not legal advice; check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.