In all honesty, why is a 4-bedroom house with only a single dedicated car parking space a problem?
Is it because families that have decided they must have multiple cars parked close to their home all the time are leaving them parked in public locations that other people value and want to use? If so, it sounds like those parking locations need to be charged for. Said families may then rethink whether they really need those cars parked so close to their homes all the time (or indeed, whether they need so many cars at all).
Having 4 independent adults in a 4 bed house is quite common in the UK due to the cost of housing.
Having 3 or 4 adults in a 4 bed house is even more common once you include 20-something kids who live with their parents due to the cost of housing.
The cost of housing is nothing to do with the number of car parking spaces provided. If you assume the typical 2 adult 2 children household (the ones most likely to be in those 3/4 bed new build houses), where 55% have at least 2 cars -- at that includes London where car ownership is lower, having a single driveway is a major problem.
HMOs are increasingly common in the UK -- not just in London or for students, but in towns for working professionals. You can (and do) easily have a 4 bed house with 4 adults with 4 separate jobs. I have a 40+ friend with a phd who lives in such a house near Bristol (3 adults in a 3 bed house).
Hell back in 2003 I lived in a 4 bed house in London which had 7 adults in it (I didn't stay there for long). That type of housing is 3 times more expensive now in relation to earnings. If you were to put that in somewhere like Mansfield you're talking at least 4 cars even if half the people commute via bus.
Sorry for the confusion. I was using “family” to emphasize that these were unrelated people in the same house. The idea being that the car-sharing dynamic is different between multiple families (or unrelated individuals) than within one family.
My spouse and I share a car. My neighbor and I probably could but not without a lot more hassle.
> If so, it sounds like those parking locations need to be charged for.
I agree, however once you make it the norm then people expect to have parking for free, and anyone attempting to change that would be voted out of office
