I believe there is a definition of parking spaces to residences for new builds, but, I don’t think it is anywhere near as generous as two spaces per dwelling.
Even two spaces per dwelling would probably be inadequate, if visitors etc are to be allowed for. One of our neighbours (2 people in house) have three vehicles. 😊
There is usually a definition of parking spaces to building type and size, but Rishi Sunak's "Plan for Drivers" (which doesn't help even drivers in reality) outlawed planners setting a maximum number of car parking spaces, which had been allowed as long as I'd been campaigning, since the Blair era, so probably since the last major town planning reform in 1990. Maybe as part of trying to regain its reputation as one of the most densely Conservative councils after its brief flirtation with non-Conservative leadership, Norfolk abruptly turned most of its previous car parking maximums into minimum parking requirements without consultation or, as yet, scrutiny. O, the joys of cabinet-style leadership, where one councillor for a couple of villages has pretty much unlimited power over their field, within the bounds set by law!
Now think about what happens when they introduce minimum parking requirements at anything more than the absolute minimum demand: the cost of each dwelling increases due to the extra space needed for parking. In a few places (town centres, high-risk flood zones, brownfield sites with basements), that may be under the homes, but it's usually cheaper for the parking to be surface-level around the homes, which pushes the homes further apart and so the development sprawls out over more land at a lower density. That makes everything more expensive: more road, utility cables and pipes per home, longer bus/train journeys and fewer passengers within typical walk/cycle distance of each stop, fewer people in the walk/cycle catchment area for any shops or schools within the development... all of that leads to more car use, more wear on the roads, more pollution, and can easily kick bus or train services into a death spiral. At best, it means higher council taxes to fund the roads and services, higher standing charges to cover the utilities and just generally a less healthy place to live.
There's also the problem of where those cars from new car-cursed estates will be driven to. The town centres generally aren't getting any bigger, so there's no more car parking spaces there without more expensive car park towers (we've already two which will never recoup their costs, one of which has its upper floor closed often in winter because it needs repair so is basically an expensive brick rain shelter, yet still another is planned) or digging underground (not happening in my flood-risk town), so it becomes cheaper for large commercial activity to sprawl out to tarmac wasteland retail areas and industrial estates instead, where yet again, things are too far apart to walk, it's a pretty nasty bike ride and most things are too far away from any stopping point for good bus or train service.
So simply increasing the supply of parking in housing developments is not a good solution. We've got to reduce the demand. That's the bit that 35 years of cowardly or unambitious politicians have failed to do. It's a much easier life to play the nice guy and get re-elected easily than it is to truly care about the long-term health of people in your area.
