Four parking spaces, 600 flats: Can car-free living ever be care-free?

Posted on: 1 September, 2026

By Linda Serck

Across Britain’s towns and cities, planners are increasingly asking whether new homes really need to come with a parking space. Reading’s Station Hill, with around 600 flats and just four spaces, offers a striking test of that idea. Programme Leader for Urban Planning Charlotte Morphet spoke on BBC Radio Berkshire about what it really takes to make car-free living work.

Imagine moving into a brand-new flat in the centre of a thriving town. The railway station is almost on the doorstep, buses frequently zip across town, and there is space downstairs for your bicycle. Your car, however, has not been invited.

That is the proposition at the next phase of Station Hill in Reading, Berkshire, where Reading Borough Council approved detailed plans in August for around 600 new homes. The development is designed to be largely car-free, with 337 cycle spaces and just four car parking bays, all reserved for Blue Badge holders.

Charlotte Morphet, Programme Leader for Urban Planning at the University of the Built Environment, spoke on BBC Radio Berkshire to discuss the subject of whether car-free living is a viable option. She started off by stating that the phrase ‘car-free’ can be misleading.

“When we talk about car-free, we’re really talking about planning places with people in mind first,” she says. “We’re thinking about those walking and cycling routes first. It doesn’t necessarily it always mean being completely car-free.

“In places such as Amsterdam, there may still be underground parking, so it’s more that the visibility of cars is reduced, allowing people to enjoy the space more.”

Car off the requirement checklist

For generations, somewhere to park your car has been on the checklist of what a new home should provide, but Station Hill is not alone in turning that assumption on its head.

At Blackhorse View in Waltham Forest, London, 350 homes were built effectively car-free, apart from Blue Badge spaces, despite replacing a public car park that once held 280 cars. Residents instead have 650 cycle spaces, a public cycle hub and Blackhorse Road Tube and rail station opposite; the surrounding borough also has more than 50km of protected cycle lanes.

In Leeds’ Climate Innovation District, meanwhile, cars are deliberately kept out of the visual residential area and parked beneath the homes. The internal street is vehicle-free, with secure cycle parking, an electric car club and EV charging, while a new foot and cycle bridge across the River Aire connects residents more directly with the city centre and public transport. Homes England says the electric car club is specifically intended to give residents access to a vehicle when they need one without having to own it.

And in Lewes, East Sussex, the 685-home Phoenix development is planning perhaps the most comprehensive alternative yet. Its Co-Mobility Hub will offer electric car sharing and hire, e-bikes and a shuttle bus, alongside a last-mile e-cargo-bike service to carry deliveries into the neighbourhood. There will also be around 2,200 secure cycle spaces, including room for e-bikes and larger cargo bikes.

Do we all need a car?

This approach does not ban cars but offers the notion that owning your own car may not be necessary. If you only need a car occasionally, why have one sitting outside all week?

There are some statistics that may surprise about our car use that would back up this new care-free and car-free philosophy:

The average car or light van in England is parked for 96% of the time and driven for only 4%. RAC Foundation research based on National Travel Survey data found that vehicles spend about 73% of their time parked at home and another 23% parked elsewhere. The Foundation says that proportion has barely changed in a quarter of a century.

And new developments with apartments is going to appeal more to a younger market. The obvious image is of the laptop-carrying young professional who commutes by train and summons a taxi when needed.

“Young professionals and younger people are buying and using cars less,” Charlotte said. “They don’t necessarily learn to drive as quickly as perhaps you once would have.”

Official figures show the proportion of 17 to 20-year-olds holding a full driving licence fell from 35% in 2019 to 29% in 2023.

Let’s talk about public transport

However, another, perhaps less surprising statistic, alludes to the need for a better public transport system if we are to be care-free and car-free. The Department for Transport’s National Travel Survey 2024 states that car driver and passenger journeys accounted for 59% of all trips and 76% of distance travelled in England in 2024. This would indicate that a journey by car is preferred.

Reading Borough Council’s own Transport Strategy 2040 openly admits that travel between residential and employment areas outside the town centre is currently “easier to do by car than by using public transport or by walking or cycling”.

Charlotte said: “Car-free development really depends on having good proximity to shops, to schools and being able to get to work. You need reliable and frequent public transport. If those things are in place, then yes, it’s a good idea.

“It’s very difficult to be completely car-free and it’s probably about offering different options.”

Is our public transport too expensive?

There is also the cost issue. In Germany, the Deutschlandticket costs €63 a month (around £54) and gives unlimited travel on participating local and regional trains, buses, trams and metros throughout Germany. The German federal government states around 14.5 million people use it, with federal and state governments each contributing €1.5 billion annually towards the scheme.

To bring it back to Reading as a comparison, a standard Reading to London Terminals monthly season ticket is currently £562.20.

Would these car-free spaces attract families?

Speaking about the Station Hill development in Reading, Charlotte argued that size would matter over sustainable transport. “I think whether or not families want to live in these apartments would probably be dictated more by the space standards,” she said. “How many bedrooms are in there? Has it got enough space for them? Is it close to schools and services? It’s not necessarily going to be defined by it being car-free because if you can access those things within walking distance, then you think: do you really need a car? Are you only going to need a car for those occasional long trips?”

Not just about cars

The debate over car-free development is not really about whether cars are good or bad, but about how people want and need to move around the places they live. Station Hill offers a particularly bold test of what happens when parking is no longer treated as a default requirement, but its success will depend on far more than the number of spaces provided. Public transport, affordability, accessibility, the location of schools and services and the different needs of residents will all shape whether people feel liberated from car ownership or inconvenienced by its absence.