Demolition of bungalow in West Green to make way for new homes despite '˜dire' parking problems

An application, to demolish a bungalow and replace it with three terraced houses, was put before a meeting of the planning committee on Tuesday (November 20).

Each house would have its own driveway as well as bicycle storage.

The council received a number of objections from residents, many of whom pointed out that so many cars parked on both sides of the road throughout the day that it was often difficult to pass through safely.

Resident David Street asked members to bear in mind the ‘dire position that we have down in Albany Road with parking’.

He added: “It’s already dangerous trying to see up and down the road when exiting. By adding another selection of driveways coming back out on to the road, it’s just going to make that problem a lot worse.”

His concerns were shared by several councillors.

Karen Sudan (Lab, West Green) described the road as ‘the most difficult area I’ve ever driven around’, while Kim Jaggard (Con, Maidenbower) added: “The traffic is a significant difficulty down that road.”

Members were reminded that the traffic and parking problems had been part and parcel of the road for some time.

Unless the new homes would exacerbate that problem, it could not be used as a planning reason to refuse the application.