Car parks

Find information about car parks including accessing the NZ Standard regulations.

Level of compliance Main audience Other

Inform

  • Boards
  • Principals and Tumuaki

Boards are responsible for the traffic management of their schools including ensuring the safety of staff, students and visitors to the schools. We recommend having a parking policy to help managing traffic flow. You will also need to consider parking for people with disabilities. If your school is entitled to new teaching space because its roll has grown, the funding to build your new space will include an allowance for new car parks.

Develop a car parking policy

You should have a parking policy about who can use the car parks on your school site. This policy usually provides car parks for staff and some visitors.

Secondary schools may not have enough parks for students’ cars. This can create congestion in the neighbourhood. You should talk to your local council about ideas for managing the issue.

Managing parking for special events

Special events like school fairs can cause parking problems. Work to manage these problems, for example, by encouraging people to walk, car pool or use public transport.

Deciding how many car parks are needed

We don't have a policy on the number of car parks schools should have. However, your local council may have requirements in its district plan.

Check with your local council for any school car parking requirements.

Providing parking for people with disabilities is a core Flexible Learning Space requirement. Think about putting parking close to buildings for easy access when you're doing other upgrades.

Creating disabled car park and drop-off zones

You need to provide disabled carparking close to entranceways. If your school doesn't have a disabled parking space, consider turning an existing car park into a disabled space.

However, for any disabled car park or drop-off zone, you must make sure the space is:

  • wide enough for the person to get out of the vehicle with ease
  • long enough for hoists on the back of mobility vans to be used.

Visit the Standards NZ website for more information about the specific requirements for off-street parking for people with disabilities.

AS/NZS 2890.6 Parking facilities – Off-street parking for people with disabilities(external link)

Paying for new or upgraded car parks

If your roll grows and you're entitled to new teaching spaces, you may need new or upgraded car parks.

  • With your roll growth funding we provide a site works allowance for each new classroom. Use this funding to pay for new car parks.
  • When you apply for building consent for your building project, the council might ask you to undertake a traffic impact assessment.
  • We'll consider providing additional funding if you can’t cover the costs of new parks because of the cost or the number required by the council.

If you want more car parks than your council requires, you must pay for them with 5 Year Agreement (5YA) funding. This is a priority 4 project.

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