Parking Bay Sizes

Planners are now asking for individual domestic off-street parking bays to be 6 x 3 metres rather than 5 x 2.5 metres. This will increase the proportion of hard to soft landscaping, is further evidence of the car gaining importance over the pedestrian and is diametrically opposed to all recent thinking on sustainable urban development.

Where is this coming from - are people such bad drivers these days that they need a longer, wider space to aim at or is this an insidious victory for the SUV lobby?