ON STREET PARKING SURVEY RESULTS FOR HOUSEHOLDS WITHIN 250M OF STOW-ON-THE-WOLD TOWN CENTRE
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2016
METHODOLOGYThe town of Stow is the service centre for nearby villages and also a major tourist attraction. No account in
this survey has been taken of the on-street parking requirements of visitors to the town centre.A considerable
number of additional on-street parking spaces to those shown below are therefore required to satisfy this need.
There are336 domestic properties within the survey area (a radius of 250m from the town centre). Survey forms
were distributed to all of theseproperties, with each household being asked to return the completed forms to the
Town Council Office or the Library.
At the time of the survey 15 of these properties were empty = 321households available to respond to the survey.
A further 22 properties were not empty, undergoing restoration nor were they "For Sale". No entries existed
in the electoral roll for these 22 properties. It was therefore assumedthat they were “second homes”.Although
many of these properties lacked any off-street parking facilities, no on-street parking requirement for them has
been included in the final analysis.
A total of 299 households could have responded to the survey.136 completed survey forms were received
and/or personal visits made to individual properties. These resultsplus information obtained on46 holiday
let properties= total 182 responses from the available 299 households. This equates to a 61% response rate,
which is a very high rate for this type of survey and possibly indicates the strength of feeling regarding parking
that is felt within the community.
Regarding the holiday lets; the accepted average occupancy rate for Stow-on-the-Wold is 70%. For holiday let
properties where no off-street parking is available, the requirement for on-street parkingfor this survey has been
conservatively calculated assuming only 50% occupancy.
Properties that neither responded to the survey nor were visited on an individual basis totalled 117.
Each of these properties was individually assessed by observationfrom the street; noting the size of the property,
the on-siteparking facilities and the number of occupants aged 17+(obtained from the electoral roll). Each of the
properties was then allocated a realistic number of cars and an on-street parking requirementaccording to the
above criteria.
HOUSEHOLD SURVEY RESULTS
The survey responses show that households including holiday lets, but excluding second homes, within 250m of
the town centre require parking for 329 cars, 107 of which need to be on- street parking spaces.
CONCLUSION - COMBINING THE ABOVE HOUSEHOLD RESULTS WITH BUSINESS
ON-STREETPARKING REQUIREMENTS
A survey to determine the on-street parking requirements of businesses within 250m of the town centre has
already been undertaken. (See Business On-Street Parking Survey Feb 2016). To understand the need for more
unlimited and free on-street parking, the following combines results of both the business and household surveys.
An average of 292 people employed within 250m of Stow town centre drive to work each day. Of the 292, 70
are provided with off-street parking. There is therefore a daily requirement for 222 on-street parking spaces
for business employees.
This figure combined with the 107 required by households gives a combined total demand of 329 on-street
parking spaces.There are only 141 unrestricted and disabled spaces within the survey area - a shortfall of 188.
The total number of spacesis still only 302 when spaces with a 2 hour restriction are included. However it is
theintention thatthese 161 restricted spaces should only be available forshort stay visitors to the town, not
vehiclesparking all day. There remains therefore, a shortfall of at least 188 spaces.
During the working week some of the vehicles from private dwellings will be used in the course of the owners
workor leisure activities, taking them away from the environs of Stow. During this period they will not therefore
requireon street parking, thus easing the shortfall. However at weekends and bank holidays which is also a peak
time forvisitors, mostof the businesses in Stow remain open and manyadditional householders who remain at
home will again require on-street parking.
Widening the survey to a radius of 400m from the town centre would encompass the free long-term town
car park for 100 vehicles and include some unlimited on-street parking, but approximately 210 additional
households would significantly add to the number of on-street parking spaces required.
As none of the above takes into account the number of spaces required for visitors to the town, the results
demonstrate that there is a chronic shortage of unrestricted on-street or free off-street parkingwithin easy
reach of the town centre.
ON-STREET PARKING SPACES WITHIN 250m OF TOWN CENTRE
Street / Unrestricted / Disabled / Restricted to2 hours
8am to 6pm
21 / 1 / 0
Sheep Street / 16 / 0 / 21
Park Street / 15 / 0 / 0
Well Lane / 36 / 1 / 0
Parsons Corner / 12 / 0 / 0
High Street / 6 / 1 / 0
The Square / 6 / 6 / 140
Union Street / 6 / 0 / 0
Glebe Close / 14 / 0 / 0
TOTALS / 132 / 9 / 161
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