Draft Coastal Car Parks Design Guide

In excess of 100 car parks have been identified in the coastal corridor.  There is a wide variation in the visual appearance and number of signs to be found in these and, as a rule, the smaller, more rural car parks are fairly clutter-free and sit well in the landscape.  At the other end of the spectrum, some of the more urban car parks suffer from poor visual appearance caused by large, unbroken areas of paving, tarmac or a large number of uncoordinated signs, with poor typefaces and unsympathetic materials.

Car parks often provide a visitor’s first experience of an area and their quality of not only parking provision but also information and other facilities, can influence whether visitors feel welcome, enjoy their stay and give a positive or negative impression about the coast.

One of the Actions from the Plan is to improve the quality and appearance of the car parks in the high quality environment of the coastal corridor. West Dorset District Council has taken the lead by establishing a working group (see Appendix 1 of draft Coastal Car Parks Design Guide for membership) who agreed that a set of design guidelines would be a first step towards highlighting best practice and important considerations for improvements to existing car parks.