The minimum car parking requirement for a child care centre in Victoria is defined in Clause 52.06 of the planning scheme as 0.22 spaces to each child. The car parking requirement is rounded down to the nearest whole number. For example, a child care centre catering for 80 children would be required to provide 17 on-site parking spaces. The car parking requirement also includes accessible parking spaces which must be allocated and designed in accordance with the Australian Standards (AS2890.6) and the Building Code of Australia.
It is interesting to note that the same car parking requirement is applicable whether the site is located in the Principal Public Transport Network (PPTN) or not. Other land use types are often provided with a reduction in the car parking requirement where they are located within the PPTN to promote public transport use and reflect lower private vehicle mode share. In the case of child care centres, parents and caregivers often tend to drive children to and from the site and empirical data suggests that the minimum car parking requirement is a good estimate of the actual parking demand likely to be experienced by most sites. Achieving a car parking reduction to provide less than the minimum required number of car parking spaces tends to be less common for a child care centre development, however each site is unique and requires careful consideration and assessment.
An application to reduce the number of car parking spaces required under Clause 52.06 of the planning scheme must be accompanied by a Car Parking Demand Assessment. The assessment would review the likely car parking demand expected to be generated by the site against a large range of factors to determine whether the car parking requirement can be reduced with minimal impacts on the surrounding traffic and parking environment.
All car parking areas must be suitably designed to ensure they comply with the design requirements set out in the planning scheme. This includes careful consideration of parking space dimensions, aisle widths, gradients, column locations, height clearances and more to ensure the spaces are designed for safe and efficient access.
At Amber, our traffic engineering and transportation planning consultants have extensive experience across a wide range of child care centres across Victoria. Our team have prepared traffic reports, car parking assessments and reviewed car parking design plans for a wide range of sites across the Melbourne metropolitan area and regional Victoria. Contact us today to discuss how our team can assist with your next project.
