Car club bays: securing them and keeping them viable
Car club obligations fail when no operator will serve the location or when a street bay depends on a traffic order the developer cannot control. Both are fixable in the drafting.
A car club bay secured by planning obligation is only worth having if an operator will actually put a vehicle in it. That is the part most section 106 agreements get wrong. The obligation names a number of bays, sets a contribution and a trigger, and says nothing about what happens when no operator considers the location viable, which leaves the developer unable to discharge the clause and the authority holding a bay that stays empty.
Get the commercial test right before you agree the drafting, and the obligation becomes a condition precedent you can satisfy. Get it wrong and it blocks occupation.
Why authorities ask for them
Car clubs let an authority accept lower parking provision without accepting that residents will simply park on the street. The logic is straightforward: a household with access to a shared vehicle within a few minutes walk is less likely to own a second car, and in some cases less likely to own one at all.
Adopted parking standards often make the link explicit, allowing a reduction in on-site spaces where car club access is secured. In London, the London Plan 2021 treats car clubs as part of the parking and sustainable transport policies in Policy T6, and boroughs apply it through their own standards.
The trip reduction case is harder to evidence than the ownership case, so be careful about claiming both. A Travel Plan that promises modal shift because of a car club, without any monitoring, will be read as aspiration rather than commitment.
On street against on site bays
The two options behave completely differently in practice.
An on-site bay sits within the development, usually in a podium or surface car park. You control the land, you can deliver it under the construction contract, and the operator gets an exclusive space. The drawback is access. If the bay is behind a controlled gate or in a basement, non-residents cannot use it, the membership catchment shrinks to the scheme itself, and the vehicle is used less.
An on-street bay sits in the public highway. It serves the whole neighbourhood, which is what makes it commercially viable, and it is visible enough to recruit members. The drawback is that you do not control it. Delivery depends on the highway authority making a traffic regulation order, which takes months and can fail at the objection stage.
| Factor | On site bay | On street bay |
|---|---|---|
| Land control | Developer | Highway authority |
| Membership catchment | Scheme only, unless publicly accessible | Whole neighbourhood |
| Delivery mechanism | Construction contract | Traffic regulation order |
| Typical lead time | Build programme | Several months, longer if objections |
| Risk of non-delivery | Low | Real, and outside your control |
For schemes of any scale the honest answer is usually a publicly accessible on-site bay at the edge of the site, reached from the footway without passing a gate. That combines land control with a catchment wider than the development.
The traffic order needed for an on street bay
An on-street car club bay is created by a traffic regulation order under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, following the procedure in the Local Authorities' Traffic Orders (Procedure) (England and Wales) Regulations 1996. The authority has to publish a notice, consult, consider objections and then decide whether to make the order.
Three consequences follow for your programme. The timetable is the authority's, not yours, and it runs in batches rather than on demand. Objections from residents who are losing a parking space are common and have to be reported. And the order can be modified or abandoned, so an obligation drafted as an absolute duty to deliver an on-street bay asks you to guarantee something a third party decides.
Where the highway works to form the bay are more than lining and signing, you will also need a section 278 agreement with the highway authority. How a section 278 follows a permission explains the sequencing, which matters because the agreement and the order are often progressed by different teams in the same council.
Operator appetite and minimum viable demand
Operators make a commercial decision, and they make it late. They want density of potential members within a short walk, visible kerbside position, existing membership nearby that can absorb the vehicle in quiet periods, and reasonable confidence that the bay will not be blocked.
What defeats sites is isolation. A scheme of 40 flats on the edge of a town, with no existing car club presence within a few miles, is unlikely to attract a vehicle whatever the developer offers, because the operator needs bookings from outside the scheme to make the vehicle pay. Offering to underwrite the vehicle for a period sometimes changes the answer, and that underwriting is a cost worth pricing before you agree a clause.
Ask the operator for a written view at application stage. A short letter saying the location is of interest subject to survey is enough to support a deliverable obligation, and its absence tells you to negotiate a fallback instead.
Membership contributions and free periods
The usual package is free membership for each dwelling for a set period, sometimes with driving credit, plus a capital contribution towards the vehicle and bay infrastructure.
Free membership costs little to provide and is easy to administer through the management company. Driving credit is the part that actually changes behaviour, because membership alone does not get anyone into a vehicle. Where an obligation offers both, the credit is worth more than an extra year of free membership.
Electric vehicles complicate the bay specification. Most operators now want charging provision, which means a supply, a charge point and a maintenance arrangement. Coordinate that with the scheme's wider electric vehicle charging provision rather than treating it as a separate item, or you will find the car club bay is the only space without a cable route.
Drafting an obligation that can be discharged
The statutory tests apply here as anywhere: an obligation may only be taken into account where it is necessary to make the development acceptable, directly related to the development, and fairly and reasonably related in scale and kind, under regulation 122 of the Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010 and section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
Six drafting points make the difference between a workable clause and a trap.
- Define the deliverable as a bay and a vehicle procured from an operator, with the operator's identity left open.
- Tie the trigger to occupation of a stated number of units, not to commencement, so you are not funding an empty vehicle.
- Cap the developer's obligation by reference to reasonable endeavours where delivery depends on a traffic regulation order.
- Include a fallback conversion: if no operator will contract within a defined period, the equivalent sum is paid as a sustainable transport contribution.
- Set the monitoring arrangement and the reporting period explicitly, since travel plan monitoring fees are frequently disputed after completion.
- State who maintains the bay markings and signage after the first five years.
The fallback clause is the one authorities resist and the one that protects both sides. Without it the council ends up agreeing a deed of variation years later, at the developer's cost and the council's administrative expense.
What happens if no operator will serve the site
Say so early, with evidence. A written response from an operator declining the location is stronger than an assertion in the transport statement, and it moves the negotiation to alternatives rather than to a clause nobody can satisfy.
Credible alternatives include a stronger cycle parking and e-bike offer, a contribution to an existing car club expansion elsewhere in the authority, a shared vehicle owned by the management company under a booking platform, or a larger driving credit package with an operator that serves the wider area without a dedicated bay.
An illustrative example: a 60 flat scheme in a market town with no existing car club. The operator declines. The agreed obligation converts the bay requirement into a contribution to the authority's town centre shared mobility scheme, plus three years of free membership for each flat with the operator covering the region, plus secure cycle parking above the adopted standard. The parking reduction the applicant sought is retained, because the underlying policy objective is still met.
Transport evidence for this kind of negotiation sits in the Transport Assessment or a Transport Statement, depending on scale. PlanScope drafts both from your site details and answers, structured to UK planning policy, with gaps flagged where site data is missing.
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.
Frequently asked questions
Why do councils ask for a car club bay instead of more parking?
Because shared vehicle access supports lower on-site parking without pushing overspill onto the street. Adopted parking standards often allow a reduction where car club access is secured, and in London the London Plan 2021 treats car clubs within its parking policy. The ownership argument is easier to evidence than any claimed reduction in trips.
How long does a traffic regulation order for an on-street bay take?
It runs on the highway authority's programme, not the developer's, and involves publishing a notice, consulting, considering objections and then deciding whether to make the order under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 procedure. Several months is normal, longer where objections are received, and the order can be modified or abandoned.
What if no car club operator will serve my site?
Get the refusal in writing and use it to negotiate a fallback. Options include a contribution to expanding an existing scheme elsewhere in the authority, enhanced cycle and e-bike provision, a shared vehicle run by the management company, or a larger driving credit package with an operator covering the wider area.
Should the bay be on site or on the street?
A publicly accessible on-site bay at the edge of the site usually works best. It keeps delivery within your control while giving the operator a catchment wider than the development. A bay behind a gate or in a basement limits membership to residents, which means fewer bookings and makes the vehicle harder to retain.
Is free membership enough to change car ownership?
On its own it rarely is. Membership costs little to provide and is easy to administer through the management company, but residents need a reason to make a first booking. Driving credit does more work than an extra year of free membership, so weight the package towards credit if the sum is fixed.
Sources and further reading
This article is general guidance about the planning system in England and, where stated, the rest of the UK. It is not legal or professional advice. Check your local planning authority’s validation requirements and take professional advice for your specific site.